Cape Town -
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille felt betrayed and insulted by her former tax consultant who defrauded her of R105 000, she told the Wynberg Regional Court on Monday.
De Lille took the stand during evidence in aggravation of sentencing against Linda Addison-Adams who has been convicted of fraud involving more than R1 million.
De Lille said Addison-Adams, 54, of Noordhoek, had been her tax consultant between 1995 and 2006. “I certainly trusted her to give me the best advice concerning my tax matters.”
What exacerbated her feeling of betrayal, De Lille said, was that as an MP she had referred Addison-Adams to other MPs who needed a tax consultant. “I actually referred people to her. I think it’s a real insult to me. In hindsight I certainly would not have done so.”
In June, magistrate Jackie Redelinghuys convicted Addison-Adams of 72 counts of fraud, 13 counts of theft and eight counts of failing to submit income tax returns. The investigation began in 2005 and the State called more than 40 witnesses.
Initially, Addison-Adams claimed she had taken the money for fees owed to her and had not issued invoices to her clients, but halfway through her cross-examination by advocate Freek Geyser, she admitted guilt.
De Lille said Addison-Adams had not apologised for defrauding her.
After consulting with her attorney, John Vrieslaar, Addison-Adams stood and addressed De Lille: “I’m sincerely sorry for the loss I caused you. There were reasons but this isn’t the place to put those reasons forward. I suffered extreme hardship over the years because of my actions.”
In response, De Lille said the apology was a little too late.
“I hear her apology but she also tainted my integrity by saying that I owed her money. I think it’s very late to ask for an apology.”
Rory Cohen, a criminal investigator at the SA Revenue Service (Sars), testified that taxpayers had lost R855 000 and Sars had lost R325 000 as a result of Addison-Adams’s unlawful acts.
There were about 19.5 million taxpayers. “It’s very difficult (to police tax fraud) and it’s impossible for Sars to conduct audits on each taxpayer. We therefore rely on the integrity not only of taxpayers but tax practitioners too. Sars places more reliance on a tax return submitted by a tax practitioner because of their experience, reliability and integrity,” Cohen said.
Cape Argus