Johannesburg – Well-known television producer and businessman, Dumakude Mayivuke Ndlovu, has appeared before the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court on 18 charges of tax fraud involving R26 million.
Ndlovu appeared in court on Tuesday, (1 October 2024), alongside two of his co-accused, registered tax practitioner Rodney Mutsharini and Maxwell Mloyi.
Mutsharini allegedly assisted the TV producer with his Personal Income Tax, and Mloyi, an unregistered tax practitioner, is alleged to have assisted Ndlovu with his Company Income Tax.
Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the trio was arrested on Monday, (30 September 2024), and formally charged for alleged tax-related offences.
“Mutsharini and Mloyi made a brief appearance on the day of their arrest and their matter was postponed to today, (1 October 2024), for a formal bail application,” said Mamothame.
“Ndlovu made his first court appearance today and made a formal bail application.
“The court granted Ndlovu R100 000 bail while Mutsharini and Mloyi were granted R50 000 bail each.”
The matter was postponed to 11 November 2024 for further investigations.
“The court ordered Mloyi and Mutsharini to surrender their travel documents, report to their nearest police stations every Monday and should they wish to travel outside the borders of the country they should make an application with the court.,” said Mamothame.
“Meanwhile, Ndlovu was ordered to report to the police at Sandton Police Station every Monday or Wednesday, notify the clerk of the court of his KwaZulu-Natal change of address and should submit an application to the court should he desire to travel outside the borders of South Africa.”
The arrest and court appearance of the accused was a result of a strengthened collaboration between the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and IDAC, a division of the National Prosecuting Authority, revealed Mamothame.
He said SARS and IDAC uncovered alleged collusion between the accused in misrepresenting the personal tax affairs of Ndlovu and his company.
Mamothame said the anomaly was uncovered after President Cyril established the Commission of Inquiry into the Tax Administration and Governance by SARS and subsequently appointed Judge Robert Nugent as the Commissioner.
“On 25 May 2018, Judge Nugent made recommendations for investigations to be conducted into the allegation of suspected fraud, corruption, and procurement irregularities with reference to the contravention of the Public Finance Management Act within SARS,” explained Mamothame.
“Subsequently, IDAC authorized an investigation into the awarding of contracts by SARS, and the Commissioner of SARS was notified of these investigations with a view of mutual co-operation and information sharing.
“The collaborative investigations between the two entities discovered that a company which formed part of the investigations, Bain and Company, was contracted by SARS to render services.”
Mamothame said this company allegedly sub-contracted Ambrobite (Pty) Ltd, now known as Kanoboya Consulting (Pty) Ltd, owned by Ndlovu, to render strategic and project management services between the period November 2013 to September 2016.
“This was, however, misrepresented by Ndlovu and his tax practitioner, Maxwell Mloyi, when submitting tax returns to SARS,” said the IDAC spokesperson.
“Mloyi together with Ndlovu declared to SARS that the company was dormant and that it never traded during the tax period 2013 to 2017, resulting in a financial loss to SARS.
“In relation to his personal income tax, it was discovered that he together with Rodney Mutsharini misrepresented his personal income tax return for the period 2016 to 2019.
“Furthermore, they submitted his personal income tax return for the years 2020 and 2022, but neglected to make a submission for the year 2021, which resulted in another financial loss to SARS.”
Mamothame said the total financial loss to SARS due to these alleged offences was estimated at R26 million.
