A 42-year-old businessman, Ravin Ramlall, said he felt prejudiced by the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Independent Directorate (ID) and the South African Revenue Service (Sars).
This as the NPA charged Ramlall for tax fraud while Sars was auditing his company, Isimbali Trading Company.
He claims that despite him complying with a Sars auditor which the publication has seen the correspondences, he was arrested.
“I was arrested even though the company was tax compliant. This is the ID’s way of trying to intimidate me, because I am close to Kishene Chetty.
“The prosecutor in this matter and the investigating officer Sunnel Bellochun have a personal vendetta against Kishene and anyone who’s close to him will bear the brunt,” Ramlall.
He also accused his tax practitioner, Farahd Adam, of being in cahoots with Bellochun and the senior advocate in turning against him and Chetty.
Ramlall said Adam was threatened by the NPA and Bellochun in making him a State witness by providing false statements implicating both himself and Chetty.
A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Star that Adam was indeed threatened by the IO, because he learnt that he was fired at Sars for committing fraud.
When the publication contacted Adam for a comment, he didn’t respond to the questions sent to him.
Ramlall is being charged with tax fraud and misrepresenting Isimbali Trading Company tax returns, which according him, he submitted all tax returns and financial records to Sars for the period 2013-2020.
In his sworn affidavit, Adam alleges that he was doing tax returns for Isimbali under duress.
However, he also claimed that Chetty was paying him a monthly salary of R3000 for his services.
“For doing the work and in respect of all the companies, Kishene gave me a monthly sum of R3000 for my services. However, I was only paid for a few months and those payments stopped. When the payments stopped, I would stop doing his work on Isimbali and the other companies, but I would then receive telephone calls from his father, Krishna telling me to do the work for Kishene, whenever the same situation arose again.
“Krishna felt that he had some hold over me because he loaned me money which I paid back. I admit that I continued with the work for Kishene under some duress, as I could not understand why these companies that were not doing any business continuously required or needed tax compliance certificates,” Adam said in an affidavit.
He further alleged that Isimbali was not tax compliant and that it submitted fake documents to Sars.
Adam’s statement was in contradiction to what the criminal investigator in Dedicated Capacity Unit at Sars, Ntokozo Ntuli, confirmed that Isimbali’s tax affairs were in order.
“In the ordinary course of business and my duties, I have access to Sars computer and data systems including Value Added Tax (VAT), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Income Tax (IT) and Service Manager.
“I have ascertained on the Sars systems that the company with the name Isimbali Trading and Projects (Pty) Ltd with Company Income Tax number 9708642153 have submitted income tax returns for the tax years 2013 to 2020.
“Above-mentioned documents are a correct and accurate reflection of the data messages, made by electronic means in the ordinary course of business, held in Sars’ data systems,” added Ntuli.
According to sources, within the Hawk’s office in Pretoria, where Bellochun used to work before being seconded to ID, said he had tendencies of intimidating witnesses using apartheid tactics.
The Hawks source accounted of how Bellochun used to “harass” witnesses who were inconsistent with what has been said about him intimidating and threatening Adam in order to turn State witness against Ramlall and Chetty.
“What is happening there at ID and courts is a ticking time bomb. These guys get away with a lot of things because they protect each other. This Bellochun, that is busy making high profile arrests, he himself has a J-50 on him (warrant for his arrest),” the source disclosed.
An insider at the NPA told the publication that there was a warrant for Bellochun but it was, however, cancelled and the prosecutor who issued it was since charged for misconduct.
“Things are hectic here, it’s everyone for themselves here, unless you are on the right side then you will be protected at all costs.”
When asked for a comment, Bellochun referred the publication to ID’s spokesperson Henry Mamothame, who did not respond to questions that were send to him weeks ago.
Bellochun is behind the arrest of the former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Mapisa-Nqakula faces 12 charges of corruption and one of money laundering after allegedly receiving kickbacks for a defence contract when she was defence minister.
She allegedly asked for R4,550,000, of which R2,150,000 was paid in cash.
The corruption allegations were made by well-known defence industry businesswoman Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu, sole director of logistics company Umkhombe Marine, which did business with the South African National Defence Force.
The Star