BURS case opens can of worms
Mpho Mokwape | Monday August 8, 2022 06:00
Head honchos within the agency are accused of depleting BURS coffers by authorising unaudited payments to companies in the form of refunds.
Mmegi is informed that the millions that the tax agency claims to have been lost through insider tax fraud were reportedly lost through a lack of value added tax (VAT) refund audits which companies took advantage of and cashed out.
It is alleged that the bosses at BURS dropped the ball when they disregarded the auditing of VAT refunds before respective companies were paid and are now trying to save their image by allegedly shifting the blame to “mere tax collectors” to avoid any accountability.
“The tax bosses failed in their job and now are looking for who to blame as they are failing to account for the missing millions. “VAT refunds used to be audited but in mid-2021 this was stopped and that is why millions were lost because companies took advantage of the lapse in the system,” said the source.
The authoritative source alleged that tax is assessed through self-assessment and that since most tax collectors are not auditors there was no way they could dispute when a company submitted claims about how much it had made.
“We capture everything as it is and when it was time to pay the VAT refunds, companies knew they would cash out and were paid since there was a lack of audit. “We questioned [them] about the audits a lot and we were told by the seniors these would be done at a later stage. “This has been going on in all BURS offices across the country,” the source told Mmegi.
When given the right to reply, BURS general manager (communications) Mable Bolele said she did not know anything about the tax collector not performing any audits and said the claims were all false.
"All I know is that at BURS we do everything by the book including audits, and that is all I will say for now," she said.
Bolele said that she would not comment any further because the matter was still before court.
Meanwhile, as revelations of the insider tax fraud unfold, more parties in the matter have been named.
The criminal case involves allegations that one of the BURS employees, Ronald Kgano, a principal tax collector, acted as the mastermind behind a tax heist. Already, authorities have seized numerous properties and assets in the matter.
During a court appearance yesterday, more company names allegedly linked to the matter were listed.
Mmegi is in possession of the names of some of the companies that were mentioned as part of the court application. However, these are being withheld by the publication as the subjects are yet to appear before court.
Meanwhile, the temporary order granted to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions on July 14 was extended to August 22, when the matter will be argued.
Interested parties are to file their answering affidavits on or before August 8 and DPP is due to file its replying papers before September 5. The parties are also to file their heads of argument before September 15.
Attorneys in the matter are Mpho Taunyane representing the DPP, while Obonye Jonas, Tshepiso Lediretse, Kgosietsile Ngakaagae, and Olihile Manchwe represent various interested parties in the matter.