DURBAN businessman Thoshan Panday who was arrested for alleged contraventions of tax legislation which outlaw false returns in respect of VAT and annual income tax, appeared in the Durban Magistrates Court on Thursday.
The 51-year-old who is charged with 27 counts of fraud, is expected to apply for bail next week.
Henry Mamothame, spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC), said Panday faces tax fraud charges following the submission of tax returns.
He said the submissions were in respect of the entities that Panday had controlled which received payments from the South African Police Services (SAPS) during the 2010 and 2011 tax years.
"The State alleges that Panday was effectively in control of several entities which had received payments from the SAPS in an amount of approximately R47 million. This is owing to a corrupt relationship with members of the Supply Chain Management Division of the SAPS.
“The payments were allegedly made in respect of services rendered to the SAPS preceding and during the Soccer World Cup in 2010,” he said.
Mamothame said the IDAC had extended its investigations into the tax compliance of the entities controlled by Panday.
He said tax investigations conducted by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) revealed that declarations made in the tax returns were false.
“It is alleged that SARS had suffered prejudice in the amount of approximately R 7.3 million as a result of these false tax declarations.
“To give effect to a whole-of-government approach by addressing financial crimes, including tax crime, cooperatively, SARS and the IDAC are collaborating to enhance voluntary tax compliance by making non-compliance hard and costly,” he said.
In a separate matter, Panday, together with eight co-accused were charged with racketeering, fraud and corruption. This matter is ongoing in the Durban High Court.