Durban —Durban businessman Thoshan Panday, 51, is facing 27 charges of fraud and tax violations and will remain in custody until his next court appearance on Monday.
Panday appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, charged with making false VAT and annual income tax returns. His case has been postponed, and he will stay behind bars until then, according to TimesLIVE.
Panday is one of eight individuals facing charges, including former KZN police commissioner Mmamaonnye Ngobeni. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Henry Mamothame, said that the state plans to oppose Panday’s bail.
“The state alleges that Panday was effectively in control of several entities which had received payments from the police in an amount of about R47 million owing to a corrupt relationship with members of the supply chain management division of the police service,” the report quoted Mamothame as saying.
Businessman Thoshan Panday from KZN and former top cop LT General Mmamonye Ngobeni and Seven other assets worth R165 million were seized by NPA for offences including charges of tender corruption involving accommodations for police during the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. pic.twitter.com/ee1mgZpiU5
— THE TRUTH PANTHER (@TheTruthPanther) April 18, 2023
The payments were allegedly made for services provided to the South African Police Services (SAPS) during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The case is ongoing.
According to The Citizen, Momothame said the charges were a result of the tax returns that Panday controlled and had allegedly received from SAPS during the 2010 and 2011 tax years, which prompted further investigations.
“After the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) had extended its investigations into the tax compliance of the entities controlled by Panday, tax investigations conducted by Sars revealed that declarations made in the tax returns were false,” he said.
He added that SARS allegedly suffered prejudice in the amount of R7.2 million that was a result of false tax deductions.
“To give effect to a whole-of-government approach by addressing financial crimes, including tax crime, cooperatively, Sars and the IDAC are collaborating to enhance voluntary tax compliance by making non-compliance hard and costly,” Mamothame said.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
