Cape Town: The matter against controversial businessman and alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, and his eight co-accused has been postponed again in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
Modack, alongside his mother Ruwaida Modack, his brother Yaseen Modack, Bashier Syce, Nadia Sait, Dominique McLachlan, Kulsum van der Schyff and Layla Bedderson, faces charges of racketeering, money laundering, fraud, forgery and uttering and contraventions of the Value Added Tax Act.
It is alleged that several corporate entities, which were registered as VAT vendors, were claiming refunds that could not be substantiated. The entities on file existed in name only and were not operational.
The scheme is alleged to have submitted false information through the South African Revenue Services’s e-filing system.
The matter is being investigated by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
“The suspects worked under the same company… between 2010 and 2016. In the process of performing their duties, they had… reportedly submitted false tax and VAT documents to the South African Revenue Service,” Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase said at the time.
He said that during the same period, fraudulent tax clearance certificate documents were submitted to gain security tenders from local government procurement processes.
Provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority Eric Ntabazalila said the matter was postponed so that the defence counsels could get further instructions on merits and finances from their clients.