This week, our story took place at the Bellville Regional Court. We have Michael Benson, a former South African Revenue Services employee and registered tax practitioner. During 1997–2000, Michael worked as an auditor and compliance officer at SARS. He was also a qualified and registered tax practitioner during the period he committed these criminal offences.
Over a period of 25 months, Michael submitted eleven fraudulent VAT201 returns to SARS, falsely claiming an amount of R1,7 million. SARS, in accordance with his documents, effected a payout of R1,58 million into Michael’s bank account. SARS blocked the final claim when they discovered that the claims were fraudulent. Hebanna!
All the documents Michael submitted for the returns were entirely fabricated. Once Michael provided false information for the claims, he then committed further fraud by producing documents that were false to SARS. These included forged municipal contracts, bank statements, and invoices, which led to Michael committing forgery and uttering.
SARS auditors requested Michael to supply supporting documents for the claims he had made. Michael went ahead and produced forged tax invoices with the intention of justifying the VAT refunds he received. He presented the documents to SARS as being genuine. Haibo, Michael!
It should be further noted that Michael was employed by SARS as an auditor (1997–2000), whereby during this time his duties for his role were to conduct audits on individual and corporate taxpayers to ensure compliance with tax legislation.
“Adv Els argued that Benson did not voluntarily desist from his unlawful conduct. This occurred solely due to the SARS intervention. Even after detection and a formal request to provide proof of the claimed amounts, he persisted in his fraudulent scheme by fabricating additional false invoices, bank statements, and municipal documentation to legitimise the misappropriated funds. He has made no restitution to SARS following the discovery of the offences. His conduct was deliberate, premeditated, and executed with meticulous planning.” Yoh!
He was sentenced to an effective 6-year direct imprisonment. The court convicted Michael on:
- 11 counts of fraud for submission of false VAT201 returns and claiming undue Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds
- 27 counts of fraud for submission of false documents to South African Revenue Services (SARS) to justify the false VAT claims,
- 24 counts of forgery
- 24 counts of uttering and
- A count of failing to keep proper records.”
DISCLAIMER! This content is for educational and informational purposes based on publicly available information.
Source: NPA