Zolani Bulelani Bangani (45), the owner of Xesibe Construction CC, appeared in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on October 6, after the accused was arrested on October 5, by the Mthatha-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team of the Hawks in a joint operation with South African Revenue Services (SARS) and National Prosecution Authority (NPA) for charges of fraud and contravention of the tax Administration Act.
According to Hawks spokesperson, Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, during the period between February 2018 to May 2019, Bangani allegedly submitted a fraudulent Value Added Tax (VAT) 201 returns on behalf of his entity to SARS.
“The reports allegedly indicated that Bangani submitted a fraudulent VAT returns refund accumulated to a total value of more than R1.1 billion. During auditing SARS identified red flags and withheld the payment to the taxpayer and was thus saved from this potential loss,” said Mhlakuvana.
“The allegations further exposed that for the business entity to qualify for VAT returns of such an amount, it should at least make a profit of over R8.8 billion.”
Mhlakuvana said that the matter was reported to the Hawks for probing.
“In addition to these allegations, the investigation revealed that Bangani previously submitted a fraudulent return for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) that resulted in a potential loss of a total amount of more than R36 million which was heard about in court,” said Mhlakuvana.
Mhlakuvana said that in all instances, investigations revealed that Bangani was assisted by a person claiming to be working as a tax consultant employed by SARS.
Bangani made his first court appearance in Mthatha Specialised Commercial Court on October 6, where he was released on R5 000 bail.
The matter is remanded to December 4 for docket contents.
The Provincial Head of the Hawks Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya once more commended the joint effort of the law-enforcement agents in a gesture to combat crime.
