Pretoria - Two companies and their directors have been served with summons to appear before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for alleged tax evasion involving personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies tender of about R10.3 million.
Gauteng spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu said it is alleged that a pharmaceutical company and an accounting firm both based in Brooklyn, east of Pretoria, failed to register for VAT on PPE supplied to the Limpopo Department of Health in April 2020.
“The pharmaceutical company allegedly received a payment of approximately R10.3m and failed to declare the taxable R800 000 to the SA Revenue Service (Sars) for the period,” said Mulamu.
The matter was reported to the Hawks’ serious corruption investigation unit in Pretoria for further investigation.
“The investigation team successfully traced and served both male suspects, aged 40 and 44, in Florida Park and Krugersdorp (on Wednesday) together with their companies with a summons to appear in court on Friday, 25 March 2022,” said Mulamu.
Earlier this week, Mulamu said another suspect had been arrested and charged in the R130m Cell C fraud case after he turned himself in to authorities in the presence of his lawyer.
Mulamu said Hilel January, 45, appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on charges of fraud and money laundering.
January’s arrest brings the number of accused persons in the massive fraud at Cell C to seven. It is alleged that they were involved in inflating invoices for services rendered.
January is accused of involvement in the fraud in which Cell C’s money was allegedly stolen using inflated invoices from IT and network service providers Redefine Technology, Cornerstone & Blue Kit IT, and Techno Genius between 2012 and 2019.
Mulamu said January appeared in court on Monday and was released on R30 000 bail.
Last week, 37-year-old Michelle Pillay and 42-year-old Khatiya Patel appeared in the same court in connection with the Cell C fraud matter.
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