Tax cheat swaps diamonds and Rolex collection for jail cell
22 July 2016 - 14:27
Johannes van Staden‚ who fleeced the taxman of R250-million and then went on a spending spree‚ has been sentenced to two decades behind bars.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman for the Western Cape Eric Ntabazalila said that Van Staden was sentenced to ''an effective 20 years direct imprisonment'' by the High Court in Cape Town on Friday. The South African Revenue Service (Sars) spent more than R2-million unravelling Van Staden's web of deceit. He was found guilty of defrauding the receiver by submitting false VAT return claims. The grandfather of two claimed that his company‚ Indo-Atlantic Group‚ was a R3-billion operation‚ and had offices at some of the most exclusive addresses in Cape Town. But it turned out that the company had been kept afloat by the fictitious tax claims. He was convicted on 27 counts‚ ranging from fraud and racketeering to money laundering and reckless trading.He spent some of the millions on farms‚ game‚ properties‚ a fleet of vehicles‚ diamonds and Rolex watches. Rory Cohen‚ a criminal investigator at Sars‚ told the court earlier that: "The amount identified as the actual loss to the state could have been used to pay old age grants‚ disability grant or care-dependency grants for at least 166‚667 people for a month or child support grants for 714 286 children for a month."TMG Digital/The Times..
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