Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has warned alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, to get ready to face a second high-profile trial next year for allegedly defrauding Sars out of R46 million.
This was revealed on Friday as Modack returned to court alongside his mother, Ruwaida and brother, Yaseen.
The trio were arrested along with Faried van der Schyff, Bashier Syce, Layla Bedderson, Dominique McLachlan and Kulsum van der Schyff by the Hawks several years ago on fraud charges.
The arrest came shortly after Modack was charged for the murder of slain Anti-Gang Unit detective Charl Kinnear, for which he is currently on trial in the same court.
Shortly after the group’s arrest, they appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court and now face over 700 charges of racketeering, fraud, money laundering, forgery and uttering and contraventions of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act.
The State is set to prove the group had registered as VAT vendors and were e-filing claims for refunds, which could not be determined, and that payments of R46m were received.
But the tax trial became hamstrung when the Western Cape High Court proceeded with the Kinnear murder trial first.
According to the indictment, the State claims a host of businesses and trusts registered by the “Modack Family Business”, which consists of security companies, car dealerships and other entities, were set up merely to claim tax returns.
The State alleges that Ruwaida was the manager of the enterprise as her home in Vanguard Estate was used as the address for the VAT vendors who submitted the false returns and she was a co-signatory on various bank accounts.
The State also alleges that Faried and Modack were the kingpins, with details that Faried was a tax practitioner who allegedly submitted the false claims, while Modack allegedly collated the false information. To date, all the accused have been granted bail while Modack and Faried have been remanded in custody.
During proceedings on Friday, Modack’s Legal Aid lawyer, Advocate Bash Sibda, told Judge Hayley Slingers that his client was concerned that a trial date had been set for October next year, saying he needed to focus on the current trial. “The docket is extremely large and we have additional problems that we are faced with. My client currently is in a matter before Judge Henney and the focus is completely on that matter, if I can just add that we have consultations on Saturdays. His focus is completely on that trial.”
But Judge Slingers warned Modack to start preparing as the date had been set.
“I understand that your client is focused on his current trial but he has to make time to give instructions on this matter otherwise the trial date set down for next year October 2025 is not going to be able to be retained. As Mr Brand has indicated that his client (Faried) has brought a bail application and it was declined. He brought an application on new facts, which were unsuccessful. He has been in custody for two years. So I am not putting pressure on you Mr Sibda, but he does need to give this matter attention as well.”
The tax case has been postponed to January 31 for another pre-trial.
Meanwhile, Modack and his co-accused in the murder case will return to the dock this week as the State continues leading evidence.
The group of 15 accused are facing an array of charges for the murder of Kinnear, the botched hit on criminal attorney William Booth, money laundering, racketeering and charges related to the grenade bomb plot on Kinnear’s home.
The mammoth underworld trial kicked off in January this year and has seen the State hand in files of evidence as they seek to unravel the events that led up to the murder of Kinnear.