Eastern Cape man slapped with R100,000 fine for R11.5m in tax evasion

A 33-year-old Eastern Cape man has been fined R100,000 or two years' imprisonment, half of which was suspended for three years, for R11.5m in tax evasion.

Hauquan Weng was sentenced by the Aliwal North regional court on Thursday for contravening the Tax Administration Act.

“During the tax season between 1996 and 2019, after the commencement of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act of 1991, Weng as the sole director of the company Weng Hua Bottle Store Pty Ltd, was liable to register for VAT but failed to do so. He commenced with the running of the business instead,” said Hawks spokesperson Capt Yolisa Mgolodela.

“The South African Revenue Service (Sars) through its forensic investigation picked up the discrepancy and lodged a complaint with the East London serious commercial crime investigation team of the Hawks for a thorough probing. Investigations revealed that Sars was prejudiced to value of more than R11.5m by the failure of Weng to register for VAT,” Mgolodela added.

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