Syndicate members arrested by the Hawks in Durban and Pretoria
The VAT scam estimated to be in the region of R99 million was uncovered in a search and seizure by the Hawks in several premises in upmarket residential areas.
NINE members of a syndicate suspected of operating a large scale value added tax (VAT) fraud scam were arrested by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday.
The Hawks teams arrested the suspects –eight men and a woman between the ages of 35 and 70 years – at their homes in upmarket residential areas during a search and seizure operation conducted simultaneously at twelve premises in Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal.
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These searches included a number of business premises. The operation was planned with the assistance of the Hawks’ Cyber Crime, Commercial Crime and the South African Police Service (SAPS) Tactical Response Units, following an investigation by SARS criminal investigators.
The SARS investigation revealed that the syndicate allegedly claimed R99 million fraudulent refunds through 15 registered, but fictitious VAT vendors. False VAT vendor details, with fraudulent supporting documents, were used to register the vendors. SARS had paid out approximately R30,6 million before the scam was uncovered
An AK47 and a pistol firearms, of which the serial number had been filed off, a cash sum estimated to be R250 000 and several gold bars as well as Kruger Rands worth millions of rand and bags full of possibly incriminating documents were seized during the search.
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Identity Documents and bank cards of the people who had been registered as VAT vendors were among the documents detained.
Members of the SARS investigating team were allocated to support the Hawks in the search operation and will assist in identifying relevant SARS documentation as evidence.
The suspects were due to appear in the Commercial Crime Courts in Durban and Pretoria on Thursday.
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