Nine in court for defrauding Sars

Nine in court for defrauding Sars
2011-02-24 17:02
Johannesburg - Nine people appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Thursday for allegedly defrauding the SA Revenue Service (Sars) through irregular tenders, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

"The matter was postponed to May 31 for further investigation," said NPA spokesperson Mona Moerane.

Mandisa Mokwena, Emilie Kinfack Djoumessi, Nancy Ashuma Akinboade, Maria Notshi Phake, Mankwane Daisy Makofane, Buti Baloyi, Bernard Mokwena, Oludele Akinloye Akinboade and Kenny Boshego were arrested on December 7.

They face charges of fraud, money laundering, racketeering and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.

Mokwena is a former Sars deputy commissioner who resigned more than a year ago. Some of the others were academics at the University of South Africa.

The alleged offences were committed between September 2007 and May 2009 and related to procurement irregularities involving individuals attached to Sars' segment and research division, NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said.

"It is alleged that some Sars officials and service providers colluded in defrauding Sars in about 45 transactions to the amount of over R11m."

He said service providers were contracted by Sars to provide research and training and that all these service providers were allegedly associates, friends and former academic acquaintances of Mokwena.

"In essence, the accused allegedly circumvented Sars supply chain management and procurement procedures to ensure that several contracts were awarded to service providers associated with them," said Mhaga.


SAPA