A wealthy Cape Town businessman suspected of being a "highflyer" has been granted R60 000 bail on tax and investor fraud charges.
Gary van der Merwe appeared in the Bellville Magistrate's Court in the Western Cape on Thursday with Paul Kilian and Tyrone Oates, directors of his companies, World Online Limited (WOL) and Wellness International Network (WIN), and his secretary, Karin Hoge.
Kilian and Oates were freed on R30 000 bail each and Hoge on R20 000.
Van der Merwe and his associates are being investigated by the Scorpions.
Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane said: "Van der Merwe is suspected of being one of the highflyers in a certain category."
The charge sheet alleges that between November 2000 and February 2002, Van der Merwe's company WOL defrauded investors and shareholders of R10-million by claiming that the investments in WOL were underpinned by gilt-edged guarantees against any losses of money invested.
In April 2002, Van der Merwe allegedly induced shareholders through false pretences to exchange WOL shares for WIN shares. Shareholders did not have the right to refuse the swap, the charge sheet claims.
Investors were guaranteed a minimum return of their original investment in US dollars, irrespective of the performance of the company.
It is alleged that Van der Merwe and his directors told shareholders they had an irrevocable guarantee against any loss of their investment as WIN was an established holding company with a dollar-based balance sheet of more than R400m.
People who had invested in WOL transferred their shares but, according to the charge sheet, the information they had been given was false. This had allegedly been done with the knowledge of Van der Merwe and his directors.
WIN was liquidated in September last year.
The charge sheet also alleges:
- Between November 2001 and November 2002, Van der Merwe and his directors got people to invest R6m in WIN under false pretences. They allegedly claimed that the company had made a net operating profit of R59m for the year ending February 2001 whereas, the Scorpions claim, the company had operated at a loss.
Van der Merwe and his directors also allegedly claimed that WIN had assets - including ships, submersibles, supply vessels, the only turbine seaplane in Africa, a cruise liner and a fleet of helicopters - that it did not possess.
- Van der Merwe submitted false tax returns. He is said to have claimed to have had a gross income of R23 000 for the tax year to end-February 2002.
The Scorpions say Van der Merwe accrued more than R2,85m in gross income in that year.
- Van der Merwe declared R60 000 to the SA Revenue Service (SARS) in his 2002/03 tax return, whereas he had allegedly made more than R22m.
- WIN's directors received millions of rand in false VAT claims and supplied SARS with incorrect information.
In one example given in the charge sheet, WIN allegedly claimed more than R3,2m in VAT from SARS in September 2001 - this included R2,7m purportedly paid by WIN on a R22m ship.
The Scorpions allege in papers that the vessel cost R1,5m.
The state has not opposed bail because other court cases against Van der Merwe are under way and he is not considered a flight risk.
His mansion on Woodbridge Island near Milnerton has been put up for sale with an asking price of R25m.
The Asset Forfeiture Unit has not seized any of Van der Merwe's assets.
"Van der Merwe has been the focus of the integrated law enforcement agency since July last year," Ramatlakane said. "The arrest closes this chapter."
The Scorpions were "happy" with how their investigation had progressed, their provincial head, Adrian Mopp, said.
"When people think of crime and criminals, they think of people living on the Cape Flats," he said.
Ramatlakane said the Scorpions, the Asset Forfeiture Unit, SARS, National Prosecuting Authority, National Intelligence Agency and Correctional Services were continuing to work together in building cases against people suspected of white-collar crime.
"We will protect our communities," he said.
WIN owned the two helicopters that crashed in the Cape Town harbour two years ago.
In March last year, Van der Merwe sought the Cape High Court's intervention in his efforts to recover cash confiscated at the Cape Town International Airport.