A company director currently serving a suspended sentence for tax fraud and contraction with his company is again in court, facing similar charges. Lerato Michael Mphana (38) is in the new matter, charged with Phumelele Mbatha (30) and Mahlomola Jeremia Makae (37).
The fraud-accused trio on Thursday, 14 November, appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court, facing charges of contravention of the Tax Administration Act and fraud. Their appearance followed arrest by the Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team based on evidence of probing regarding tax crime.
WO Fikiswa Matoti, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said the elite crime fighting wing conducted an investigation after the South African Revenue Services (Sars) reported the matter following its finding of irregularities for the period of 2018 to 2020.
“The outcome of the investigation revealed that during the tax period of 2018 and 2020, the accused committed fraud and contravened the Tax Administration Act by submitting false VAT 201 returns to Sars, either by under declaring or not declaring output on VAT. As a result, Sars was prejudiced and suffered a total loss to the amount of R39 858 872.29,” said Matoti. She said the nation’s tax collecting authority assigned an internal investigator to probe the accused for possible tax offenses, finding a prima facie case.
Makae
Matoti said a case docket was registered then referred to the Hawks’ for in-depth probing, culminating in the arrest of the three accused. Mphana, Mbatha, and Makae were each granted bail of R1 500 and the matter postponed to 3 February 2025 to continued in the Regional Court.
Mbatha
Mphana and his company, Mphana and Makae General Trading, are currently serving suspended imprisonment sentences of five years pertaining to tax fraud of the 2015-’16 tax season. The court convicted and sentenced him and the company after finding both guilty on the charge of contravention of the Tax Administration Act, submitting false tax return documents to Sars. Despite the revenue collector being prejudiced and suffering a financial loss close to R1 million, he was not ordered to reimburse the tax collector. The sentences were suspended on the condition that Mphana and his company are not found guilty of similar offences during the five years.
