Durban — A South African Revenue Service (Sars) clearing agent and his co-accused are expected to appear in court again in October for a customs and excise-related fraud matter.
The two appeared in the Durban Commercial Crime Court on July 28. They were charged with defrauding Sars and their clients of more than R2 million.
The matter was postponed to October 20.
Sars said that Jayson Perumal, 43, of Dynamic Freight, and Reshlan Pillay, 38, were charged with fraud and contraventions of the Customs and Excise Act. Both are out on bail.
It is alleged that Reshlan Pillay, director of Potenza Capital, and a clearing agent, processed customs entries while working with Jayson Perumal of Dynamic Freight, who was acting on behalf of various importers.
Potenza Capital is alleged to have submitted false documents to Sars, where the values of the goods, the goods themselves and the importers’ details were falsified, resulting in minimal duties and VAT paid over to Sars, the revenue service said in a statement.
Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter expressed his satisfaction “that Sars is living up to its strategic objective of making it hard and costly for those that chose to engage in criminality when dealing with Sars”.
While the matter remains sub judice and its merits are still to be determined, Kieswetter said that “it is critically important that all role-players act prudently and honestly when dealing with Sars”.
The revenue service said it was aware of these types of fraud and wants to warn clearing agents they will face “the full might of the law” when arrested.
At the same time, Sars wishes to warn the public, especially importers, to be vigilant when contracting with clearing agents. They need to be aware of the correct duties and VAT that need to be paid and ensure that those amounts have actually been paid to Sars. In terms of the Customs and Excise Act, the importer is ultimately liable for the duties and VAT payable to Sars.
Importers should demand proof of their payments to Sars, relating to any of their imports, from clearing agents. Sars has established that some clearing agents wilfully under-declare the value of goods by as much as 90%, through falsifying importation documents, Sars said.
“However, they are alleged to claim the correct duties and VAT from their clients, while paying Sars the minimum duties and VAT. The clearing agents then allegedly pocket the difference, thereby enabling the low rates for their services, while defrauding both Sars and the importer.”
Sars said the importer is prejudiced twice if Sars audits these transactions and levies the correct amount of VAT and duties which is payable by the importer.
The revenue service said it is concerned about the scope of this scam, as investigations into similar schemes to the value of millions of rand are being investigated in Gauteng and in the Western Cape.
Daily News