FREE TO READ: Watson 'funnelled R500m into offshore tax haven'

Embattled Bosasa boss Gavin Watson, under investigation for the bribery of senior former government ministers and ex-officials from the correctional services department, died a day before he was to testify before a tax evasion and money laundering inquiry.

The SA Revenue Service (Sars) inquiry was into – among other tax crimes – his alleged smuggling of an estimated R500m from SA into at least one trust account held in Guernsey, a tax haven in the English Channel, according to a Sars source with knowledge of the investigation.

The anti-apartheid activist died at about 5am on Monday when the car he was driving – a Toyota Corolla owned by African Global Operations (formerly Bosasa) – ploughed into a bridge pillar within the OR Tambo International airport precinct near the R21. The pillar is near the airport’s drop-off area.

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