CAPE TOWN - A former SA Revenue Service (Sars) employee Bilal Shaik has received a 12-year custodial sentence for fraud, forgery, uttering and money laundering to the tune of R6 million.
Shaik was sentenced for facilitating fraudulent VAT refunds to three companies.
Sars said, however, that the money eventually ended up in the bank account of Shaik, who used the proceeds for personal gain.
A second accused, Kyle Nadasen, representing Kyle Nadasen CC, was convicted of fraud, forgery and uttering, Sars said.
He was sentenced to six years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, on condition he is not convicted under section 4 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA).
A third accused, Miloni Chetty, a sole member of ILONIM General Traders, was acquitted on all charges.
Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter welcomed the sentences handed down on Shaik and Nadasen.
“Sars will not tolerate any criminal conduct by its employees. This is not negotiable, as taxpayers and traders should be able to trust the organisation and its employees to act with integrity,” Kieswetter said.
“Sars is committed to making it hard and costly for anyone involved in criminal malfeasance on tax matters without fear, favour or prejudice. Sars takes umbrage at some amongst our ranks who engage in criminality. We will root them out.”
Kieswetter said that crimes, like the ones recently committed, tarnished Sars’s reputation.
Cape Times