Corrupt Sars ex-auditor sentenced to 20 years for fraud

A former South African Revenue Service (Sars) auditor’s lifestyle and absenteeism became her downfall in 2015 after they alerted authorities to her corrupt and fraudulent scheme with a bogus tax practitioner.

55-year-old Monica Pretorius was a VAT auditor at Sars in Alberton, Ekurhuleni, when she abused her position to ensure the payment of fraudulent VAT refund claims submitted by Cornelius Kriek, who posed as a tax practitioner.

Her crimes caught up with her on Thursday.

Cash and car registered in daughter’s name as gratification

Pretorius accepted gratification like cash payments and a car registered in her daughter’s name in exchange for facilitating the refund claims amounting to R54 million.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said Pretorius’ lifestyle, absenteeism from work, and the regular unpaid leave she took, however, alerted authorities to the scheme.

The investigation by the Sars Anti-Corruption Unit uncovered the scheme, resulting in Pretorius’ resignation in 2015.

Mjonondwane said the Specialised Commercial Crime’s Court sitting in Palm Ridge also found a corrupt relationship existed between Pretorius and Kriek, who shared the proceeds of the refund claims with their clients.

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“Pretorius’ role was to allocate audits relating to the scheme to herself, ensuring the refund claims were paid out without further intervention,” she said.

20 years for fraud and corruption

On Thursday, the court sentenced Pretorius to an effective 20-year imprisonment for multiple counts, including fraud and corruption. She was convicted on 11 July 2023.

Kriek pleaded guilty to the same charges in 2018 and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

Due to Covid restrictions, the trial against Pretorius was delayed and concluded in 2023.

Senior State Prosecutor Advocate Marius Oosthuizen said in court that Pretorius’s abuse of her position to swindle the government and enrich herself called for direct imprisonment.

Betrayal of trust as public official

Oosthuizen added that she betrayed the trust placed in her as a public official.

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“The NPA views corruption as a cancer and is committed to rooting it out in the private and public sectors. Public officials who abuse their positions to commit corruption will face the full might of the law,” Mjonondwane said.