A 56-year-old company director has been found guilty of defrauding the South African Revenue Services (Sars) of R9.5 million.

Bonakele Damsi and his business entity Damsi Construction Services CC were convicted by Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court this week on 17 counts of contravention of the provisions of the Tax administration Act.

According to the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations (known as Hawks) the duo was arrested in February.

Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said during the period between February 2020 and April 2022, Damsi as the director of Damsi’s Construction Services CC allegedly submitted false Value Added Tax returns with no supporting documents.

“During auditing, the company was randomly selected and red flags were identified, thus the matter was reported to the Hawks for expert probing,” Mgolodela said.

“The investigations revealed that Sars was nearly prejudiced cash to the value of more than R9.5million.”

Damsi was arrested during the early hours of February 22, and appeared in Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on the very same day.

“He was released on R5,000 bail.“

The matter was adjourned to January for sentencing.

IOL News