A 54-year-old director and his company found guilty of tax fraud have been fined R800,000 or five years behind bars.
Marius Augustine Bocks, the director of Batsha Ba Tiro Financial Management (Pty) Ltd pleaded guilty to the contravention of the Tax Administration Act in the Kimberley Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.
According to Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations (known as the Hawks), during the period between 2018 and 2019, Batsha Ba Tirong Financial Management Pty (Ltd) t/a Batsha Ba Tirong Security Services submitted fraudulent IRP5 certificates to South African Revenue Service (Sars) claiming company income tax returns.
“The company had no employees and was therefore dormant under the tax period 2018/2019 for which it falsely claimed corporate income tax,” explained Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Nomthandazo Mnisi.
He said Sars suffered a total loss of R21 million.
“An intensive investigation by the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team led to the conviction and sentencing of the accused.”
Mnisi said Batsha Ba Tiro Financial Management was fined R200,000, while Bocks was sentenced to pay a fine of R600,000 or face five years direct imprisonment.
In a similar case, a KwaZulu-Natal man was ordered by the courts to pay back more than R1.4 million after he was found guilty of defrauding Sars.
Ndumiso Sithole, 47, was sentenced for four counts of contravention of the Income Tax Act and fraud in October.
IOL News