Well-known television producer and businessman, Dumakude Mayivuke Ndlovu, has appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court, together with two others, on charges of tax fraud.
The three who appeared in court on Tuesday, are facing 18 charges of tax fraud relating to Ndlovu’s personal and company income tax valued at approximately R26 million.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) said that registered tax practitioner, Rodney Mutsharini, allegedly assisted Ndlovu with his Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Maxwell Mloyi, who is an unregistered tax practitioner also assisted Ndlovu with his Company Income Tax (CIT).
“The three were arrested on 30 September 2024 and formally charged for their alleged offences. Mutsharini and Mloyi made a brief appearance on the day of their arrest and their matter was postponed to Tuesday, 01 October 2024, for formal bail application.
“Ndlovu made his first court appearance on Tuesday and made a formal bail application. The court granted Ndlovu R100 000 bail while Mutsharini and Mloyi were granted R50 000 bail each.
“The matter was postponed to 11 November 2024 for further investigations. The court ordered Mloyi and Mutsharini to surrender their travel documents, report to their nearest police stations every Monday and should they wish to travel outside the borders of the country they should make an application with the court,” the SARS said.
Ndlovu was ordered to report to the Sandton police station in Gauteng every Monday or Wednesday, notify the clerk of the court of his KwaZulu-Natal change of address and should submit an application to the court should he desire to travel outside the borders of South Africa.
Their arrest and court appearance are as a result of strengthened collaboration between the revenue service and the Investigating Directorate Against Crime (IDAC) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which uncovered an alleged collusion between the three in misrepresenting the personal tax affairs of Ndlovu and that of his company.
Following the appointment of President Cyril Ramaphosa as the President of the Republic on 15 February 2018, he established the Commission of Inquiry into the Tax Administration and Governance by SARS and subsequently appointed Judge Robert Nugent as the Commissioner.
“On 25 May 2018, Judge Nugent made recommendations for investigations to be conducted into the allegation of suspected fraud, corruption, and procurement irregularities with reference to the contravention of the Public Finance Management Act within SARS.
“Subsequently, IDAC authorised an investigation into the awarding of contracts by SARS, and the Commissioner of SARS was notified of these investigations with a view of mutual co-operation and information sharing,” SARS said.
The collaborative investigations between the two entities discovered that a company which formed part of the investigations, Bain and Company, was contracted by SARS to render services.
“This company allegedly sub-contracted Ambrobite (Pty) Ltd, now known as Kanoboya Consulting (Pty) Ltd, owned by Ndlovu, to render strategic and project management services between the period November 2013 to September 2016.
“This was however misrepresented by Ndlovu and his tax practitioner, Maxwell Mloyi, when submitting tax returns to SARS. Mloyi together with Ndlovu declared to SARS that the company was dormant and that it never traded during the tax period 2013 to 2017, resulting in a financial loss to SARS.
“In relation to his personal income tax, it was discovered that he together with Rodney Mutsharini misrepresented his personal income tax return for the period 2016 to 2019,” SARS said.
Furthermore, they submitted his personal income tax return for the year 2020 and 2022 but neglected to make a submission for the year 2021, which resulted in another financial loss to SARS.
The total financial loss to SARS due to these alleged offences is estimated at approximately R26 million.
“IDAC and SARS will continue to collaborate. Such partnerships enable law enforcement to deal with matters wholistically,” the revenue service said.
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