Pretoria – The Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court has released 40-year-old Bongani Sydwell Mkhatshwa on R10 000 bail after he was arrested by the Hawks' Nelspruit-based serious commercial crime investigation unit for fraud.
According to Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, “Mkhatshwa was arrested on warrant of arrest and charged with fraud, theft or alternatively contravening the provisions of Section 235 of Tax Administration Act”.
“It is alleged that in March 2019 the accused forged and uttered tax return invoices to the revenue services and prejudiced Sars over R3.4 million.”
Police discovered that there was a similar case outstanding against Mkhatshwa. In March 2018, along with other accused people, he fraudulently submitted forged tax return invoices.
In that case, Sekgotodi said the fraudsters fleeced Sars of “a lot of money” and were arrested on the July 18. The accused were released on bail.
Both cases were postponed to November 3, when they will be combined.
Last month, a 39-year-old woman was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for fraud amounting to R1.3m.
Antionette Hillary Naidoo was sentenced at the Klerksdorp Regional Court to 12 years’ imprisonment, with two years suspended.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said Naidoo was convicted on 25 charges of fraud.
“She defrauded Midvaal Water Company, known as Midvaal, (of) an amount of R1.3m, while employed as the financial accountant heading the finance section,” said Henry Mamothame, NPA North West spokesperson.
Naidoo manipulated the accounting and payment systems of Midvaal, transferring the money into her bank account by changing suppliers’ bank account numbers, Mamothame said.
He said the transactions dated from February to August 2018, under the pretext of paying suppliers of Midvaal.
“She then recorded these payments in the form of journal entries, as styled refreshments, cellphones, and salaries,” said Mamothame.
“The complainant managed to trace that all creditors were paid into one bank account, which belonged to the accused. She pleaded guilty to all charges, however, the State also had solid evidence against her, as all illegal and irregular banking transactions were contained in the docket.”
IOL