Cape Town - A Cape Town businessman and his accountant, who were arrested in connection with a multimillion-rand VAT fraud, were released on bail in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The men are accused of committing the alleged fraud from 2002 to last year.
According to a statement issued by Sars, Luis Fernandes and accountant Nazmien Warner allegedly claimed the VAT refunds by submitting false invoices to Sars on a monthly basis.
The invoices were allegedly shared between three vendors.
“Sars was able to confirm that the suspects did not run a business or purchase goods from suppliers, yet the refunds they had claimed were tantamount to purchases to the value of R823 million.
The money was used to pay bonds on the huge property portfolio held among them, luxury vehicles, overseas trips and private expenses,” the statement said.
Sars commissioner Francois Scholtz identified the vendors by their trading names as ICE Holdings, ICE International and DAF Trading. Scholtz said the returns had been submitted via e-filing.
Fernandes, 48, was listed as a member of each of the vendors and Warner was cited as the VAT representative of ICE Holdings and DAF Trading.
N Warner and Associates was cited as the accountants for DAF Trading.
Fernandes was born in Angola and relocated to South Africa when he was young as a result of war in his home country. He is a naturalised South African citizen.
“The fact that they did not collect any output VAT on sales and in contrast claimed large input VAT on purchases resulted in large refunds being paid out by Sars on a monthly basis,” Scholtz explained.
He added that the supporting documents uploaded were used “over and over again”.
Documents were allegedly used as a template and the contents adjusted to reflect the transaction for a specific months.
“This is a clear act of fraud,” he said.
Information gathered to date indicated that there was prima facie evidence that VAT fraud had been committed over an extended period of time by the three vendors.
Scholtz confirmed the allegation that the two men and their spouses had accumulated fixed property and luxury vehicles.
In a separate statement, Hawks spokesman Captain Lloyd Ramovha said the men had been arrested after raids at four addresses in Bellville and Melkbossstrand.
“Corporate entities apparently run by the accused are also forming part of the probe as they allegedly benefited from the pair’s alleged unlawful exploits since 2002, in contravention of the Tax Administration Act. Sars reportedly suffered a loss of over R100m from these unlawful activities,” he added.
The case was postponed for further investigation to March next year.
Fernandes was released on R50 000 bail.
Warner was released on R1 million bail. He was ordered to pay R500 000 immediately and put up the the balance as surety.
Weekend Argus