'Fraudsters' netted in SARS sting

09 October 2015 - 02:08 By Shaun Smillie

In a boardroom at the SARS head office in Pretoria eight impatient company directors, accompanied by bodyguards, demanded a R250-million payout from the taxman. They didn't realise they were the targets of a sting.The company they allegedly owned is understood to be the SA Community Government Union, which five years ago was accused of hijacking a mine. Registered as an NGO, it claims to be the true government of South Africa and wants to dissolve the police force.The police arrested the six men and two women on Wednesday on charges of tax fraud and racketeering.The four bodyguards, said SARS spokesman Luther Lebelo, were not detained."We have arrested the leadership."SARS had been alerted by a computer "risk engine" that flags suspicious activity. The suspects had tried to defraud SARS of R266230423 - purportedly a value-added tax refund claimed this year.The documents presented as evidence, including staff payslips, had been found to be fraudulent.The eight directors had become impatient about getting their payout and demanded to see the SARS commissioner. "They came and we set up the sting."The suspects cannot be named until they have appeared in court.The firm they are believed to own was involved in a company hijacking when the names of two directors of mining house Kalahari Resources - chairman Daphne Mashile-Nkosi and her brother Brian Amos Nkosi - were removed in 2010 from the records of the Companies and Intellectual Properties Registration Office and replaced with those of eight people affiliated to the SA Community Government Union...

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