A South African Revenue Service (Sars) office. Picture: iStock
Two men who were arrested for allegedly defrauding the South African Revenue Services (Sars) of millions were granted bail on Wednesday by the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
The first suspect is James Kamau Ngachu, 63, a Kenyan national who is facing 30 counts of VAT fraud and 70 counts of money laundering to the value of more than R14 million. Ngachu was granted R20,000 bail and is also allegedly in the country illegally.
His co-accused is 42-year-old Mhupheki Modibedi is facing four counts of VAT fraud and money laundering to the value of R3 million.
The National Prosecuting Authority revealed that a company Nicktech Electrical Appliances CC and Ngachu, who is a director of the company registered the company for VAT and fraudulently submitted claims worth over R75,000 to Sars, which were rejected.
“Thereafter, different companies also submitted claims to Sars worth R14million which was paid. It is alleged that upon receiving the payments, the different companies transferred more than 70% of the monies received from Sars immediately to Ngachus personal accounts and his company.”
Furthermore, two company directors namely, Ange Mamaremane Malope, 38 of Manaremane Trading & Projects CC and Tebogo Ofentse Wadjah, 40, of Dolphin Management Trading and Development have already appeared at the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, also facing charges of fraud, and money laundering was granted bail of R2 000 each and their case was remanded to 9 December 2022, for joinder of the accused.
The NPA also stated that Ngachu asked to be released on bail on condition that he does not evade his trial as he has already handed over his passport.
“The magistrate ruled that the circumstances in which the accused is deemed to be unreliable are mere speculations, hence granting him bail with no bail conditions. More company directors are expected to appear in court about the same matter. This matter was postponed to 09 December 2022, to join all accused in court.”
Compiled by Siphumelele Khumalo
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