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A Welkom businessman has been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment after being found guilty on over 400 counts of fraud, while the chair of the Droogfontein community property association has been handed a five-year suspended sentence and a R50 000 fine for defrauding SARS.
In a statement on Tuesday the tax agency said that Free State business owner Recado Williams Davids defrauded the revenue agency by using trust instruments and other legal entities.
"[He] pleaded guilty to over 404 counts of fraud for submitting 404 fraudulent VAT returns to SARS, declaring false inputs and outputs," the statement said.
"The fraud, committed between 2007 and 2015 was enabled through the use of 12 legal entities, including their representatives and members."
Davids reached a plea agreement with the state, and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, of which six are conditionally suspended. This means he faces an effective imprisonment of nine years.
Davids' LinkedIn profile describes him as self-employed at K-Dos Construction Management in Welkom, with a background in sales.
The revenue collection agency said that, in a separate case, five-year suspended sentence had been handed down by the Kimberley Magistrate's court to businessman Thabo Modupe, the chair of the Droogfontein community property association outside Kimberly and the owner of a taxi business.
Crackdown
Modupe previously made headlines when tensions arose between the CPA and some beneficiaries of the Droogfontein Farm in 2017, the Northern Cape Express reported at the time. The area saw violent protests following accusations that Modupe and the CPA secretary, Nkaelang Mamapula, had mismanaged funds.
Modupe said at the time that despite calls for his removal, the pressure was coming from "a few disgruntled families" and he would remain in his post unless due process was followed to remove him.
Modupe committed VAT fraud through two of his businesses, SARS said on Tuesday. He was fined R50 000 and ordered to pay back fraudulently obtained funds to SARS.
In a plea agreement, Modupe said he had defrauded SARS to the tune of around R550 000 by under-declaring income and submitting false claims. He further pleaded guilty to eight counts of forgery and eight counts of uttering for providing SARS with false invoices.
Modupe has repaid a large portion of the funds already, and the rest will be paid in line with the court's instructions, SARS said.
On Monday, speaking at a tax indaba in Sandton, SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter said the tax agency was in the process of signing a memorandum of understanding with the National Prosecuting Authority as it seeks to ramp up the process of ridding the institution of corruption.
