A Thirteen members of an enhanced South African family have been imprisoned for assertedly cheating the revenue service of millions of rands, in a scam that has left the township residents astonished.
As the 13, who were arrested from the Lenasia area, south of here, includes a mother, her four children and other close and not so close relatives of the famil. They are facing charges in the Johannesburg High Court for allegedly defrauding the SA Revenue Service of R 4.9 million over 17 months by claiming Value Added Tax refunds for 126 companies that existed only on paper.
According to the court papers, ”they submitted VAT returns containing fabricated details so to ensure undue VAT refunds to be paid out.” It further stated that ”they received or retained fraudulently obtained VAT refunds in their bank accounts, or accounts to which they had access to, and or accounts to which they were given access to.”
The accused include 53-year-old Shajida Begum Samnakay, her four children – Ibrahim Hoosen Desai, Abdul Gafoor Desai, Mooshtaq Desai and
Mumtaz Desai; their aunt Feroza Mia Desai; Mooshtaq’s wife, Sakeena Ally and their cousins Mohammed Shiraaz Samnakay and Irfaan Shaikhnag. Other accused include brothers Abdur Razzak Yusuf Lachporia and Mohamed Mobien Yusuf Lachporia, as well as Shakeel Ahmed Mohideen and Mohammed Ameen Mohideen.
