Durban — A man who pleaded guilty to five counts of personal income tax fraud was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.
However, his sentence was wholly suspended for five years with conditions.
KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said: “The Durban Regional Court sentenced Kuhlekonke Richman Mkhize, 40, to eight years’ imprisonment (wholly suspended for five years with conditions) after he pleaded guilty (section 105A) to five counts of personal income tax fraud.
“Mkhize, who is a medical doctor, also represented his company, Doctors Care Centre, and pleaded guilty to one count of failure to withhold employees’ tax.”
Ramkisson-Kara said the matter was successfully prosecuted by advocate Sipho Nhlapho, from the NPA’s Specialised Tax Unit, and the section 18 confiscation order for the R300 000 was obtained by senior State advocate Rajendrie Naidoo, from the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
In court, Mkhize pleaded guilty to committing the offences between 2015 and 2018, defrauding the South African Revenue Service (Sars) of more than R2 million in total.
Ramkisson-Kara said the condition attached to Mkhize’s sentence is that he pays an amount of over R2m directly to Sars with an upfront payment of R300 000 which must be paid as follows:
- R150 000 before May 7
- R75 000 before June 15
- R75 000 before July 19
Ramkisson-Kara said the remaining amount of over R1.7m must be paid by Mkhize in instalments of R50 000 per month to Sars on or before the 25th of each month, from August 2024 to July 2027.
“Doctors Care Centre was sentenced to a fine of R150 000 which is wholly suspended for a period of two years,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Ramkisson-Kara added that the NPA welcomes the successful finalisation of the matter. She said the case indicates the effective working relationship between the NPA, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and Sars, to ensure that all those who defraud Sars or evade tax are identified and successfully prosecuted. Stakeholder engagements to successfully solve tax cases continue to yield fruitful results.
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