The former South African Revenue Service (SARS) official Khutso Hlongwane is expected back in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court today.
This is in connection with alleged fraud, amounting to over R5-million.
Forty-year-old Hlongwane allegedly defrauded the revenue service between 2007 and 2015.
The National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lomka Mahajana says: “A former SARS official Khutso Meloreng Hlongwane will appear at Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court after her representations made to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the National Director of Public Prosecutions to have her charges withdrawn were unsuccessful. Hlongwane faces 52 counts of fraud, worth over R5 million for defrauding SARS from July 2007 until September 2015.”
Related video, State Capture report finds massive irregularities at SARS:
In 2021, auditors Corah Madlepollo Kooko and Noluthando Sipokazi Mbanga as well as a runner Mndolozi Mncube were charged for tax fraud in contravention of the Value Added Tax Act, as well as Customs and Excise Act – with an actual loss of over R277 million.
R44 million of the money has already been recovered through an investigation in conjunction with SARS.
An investigation by SARS, between 2013 and 2016, identified extensive value-added tax (VAT) fraud with Small and Medium Enterprises sectors registered as VAT merchants.
The syndicate involves more than twenty individuals and various companies. Most of the fraudulent invoices were uploaded from the SARS branch in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg, where some of the implicated suspects were based.
