Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi faces his first true court battle this week as the State intends to have his bail rescinded.
Prosecutors allege that, in contravention of his bail conditions, Savoi moved money out of the country in an attempt to hide his assets from authorities.
According to a notice filed in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court, Savoi, through his company Intaka Holdings, transferred R57-million to Swanton Enterprises, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Savoi disputes the allegation and claims he has no dealings with Swanton.
He is out on R200 000 bail. The motion to have his bail rescinded will take place on Friday.
According to an affidavit from PwC forensic investigator Trevor White, the sum was earned during 2009 after Intaka sold 71 water-purification plants to the Angolan government for about R310m.
Court papers allege Savoi owes the SA Revenue Service R35m for profits made in 2009 and is being probed for “round-tripping” - moving funds to disguise their source.
Court papers show that Intaka Holdings paid R62m to its subsidiary, Intaka Manage, including a R24m repayment of a loan and a R34m advance on a loan. Intaka Manage then repaid a R57m loan to Swanton, which in turn lent R36m to the Savoi Family Trust.
White said Intaka Manage had no meaningful assets and had no ability to repay the R34m loan. He said the transactions were “effectively being used to channel money offshore, which is thereafter lent to the Savoi Family Trust, of which Savoi is a beneficiary and trustee”.
White added: “The R36m loan from Swanton to the Savoi Family Trust is unsecured and repayable by mutual agreement. This is not an arm’s length transaction between unrelated parties and does not make business sense unless Savoi and/or the other trustees of the Savoi Family Trust have significant influence over the affairs of Swanton.”
However, an affidavit prepared by Fernando Luis Scelza Martinez, an Uruguayan lawyer and a director of Swanton, states that all Swanton shares are held by Songren Holdings, and the Saga Trust is the ultimate beneficiary. Martinez stated that Savoi’s father, Ruben, was the initiator of the Saga Trust and the primary beneficiary.
Martinez said Swanton advanced money to Intaka. The loans were commercial shareholder loans and were authorised by the SA Reserve Bank.
He said Swanton advanced money to the Savoi Family Trust to fund various investments.
Intaka auditor Selwyn Solomon of auditing firm Mazars said the repatriation of loans to Swanton and the subsequent advance of monies to the Savoi Family Trust was “not out of the ordinary. The repayment settled a legitimate debt at the time when the Intaka group was able to do so and the exchange rate was conducive.”
Eugene Nel, who is assisting the court-appointed curator, Hein Hatting, in identifying the assets of Savoi, said in affidavit that it would have been better practice for Intaka Holdings to have declared the dividends to its shareholders or lent the money directly to the Savoi Family Trust.
“The Savoi Family Trust benefited from the profits made by (Intaka) Holdings in an indirect manner and there is very little, if any, possibility of recovery of the funds loaned by (Intaka) Holdings to (Intaka) Manage,” Nel said.- The Mercury