Fugitives found guilty of defrauding SARS
TAX practitioner Heidi Williams and her co-accused husband Daoud Cisse, who allegedly defrauded the SA Revenue Service (Sars) to the tune of R2.4 million have been found guilty in absentia and convicted on 1 656 fraud charges.
Magistrate Herman Pieters made his 181-page judgment part of the record in absentia, but cannot sentence the pair until they have been found. They are accused of inflating medical aid claims via e-filing without the knowledge of Williams’s clients.
The two failed to appear in the Cape Town Regional Court on July 10 last year, and have since gone to ground. They are believed to be in Senegal, Cisse’s homeland.
The court found that taxpayers took their identification documents, IRP5 and medical aid certificates to the accused but did not know what was being entered on the tax returns. The taxpayers were shocked when investigators told them what had been submitted.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila yesterday confirmed that both had been convicted on the fraud charges.
“Williams cannot be sentenced until she has been found,” he said.
Initially, Magistrate Pieters was ready to deliver his judgment on July 10 last year in the Cape Town Regional Court, but after waiting for an hour for the pair to arrive at court, the matter was postponed and warrants of arrest for the two were issued.
At that time they were on bail of R25 000 which was immediately revoked and forfeited to the State. In terms of the bail conditions, Williams had to report once a week on a Friday at Parow police station. The last time Williams reported was on June 21. Investigation officer Denzil Weitz launched an extensive search but was unable to locate the couple.
In its heads of arguments, State prosecutor Bronwen Hendry-Sidaki indicated a total of 187 taxpayers testified in the trial that commenced in 2015. It was the State’s submission that there was no room for doubt that the accused intended to submit false information on behalf of taxpayers.
The State contended that the taxpayers each corroborated each other, testifying they had not supplied the false information pertaining to medical aid deductions to the accused.
It was the State’s submission that Williams showed callous and unrepentant disregard for the taxpayers, for Sars and the law.
Weitz said: “We have discovered that the pair last withdrew money in Namibia. We suspect that they have fled to Senegal.”
Anyone with information can call Weitz at 071 351 7439.