Sars Fraudster Handed 7-year Sentence

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has welcomed the seven-year sentence recently imposed on a KwaZulu-Natal woman convicted of defrauding the revenue collector of approximately R4 million.On Thursday last week, the Durban Regional Court sentenced Saraspathie Vallee (47) after pleading guilty to Value Added Tax fraud and contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

The Chatsworth woman was the sole proprietor of closed corporation Gutterpride Trading. In a statement, the revenue collector said Vallee, using the SARS' eFiling service, claimed a VAT refund to the value of R3972814 on behalf of Gutterpride for a single tax period in 2014 and SARS was supplied with falsified supporting documents to substantiate the claim.

"SARS reduced the refund and after outstanding taxes were liquidated, an amount of R2484683.75 was refunded to the entity. "Within a few...