A 12-year VAT fraud scheme has ended in a lengthy prison sentence.
A R62 million fraud case spanning 12 years has cast fresh attention on the scale of South Africa's wider value-added tax compliance problem, as the taxman works to prevent billions of rand in impermissible refund claims.
The South African Revenue Service has welcomed the sentencing of André Claude Dickoumba-De-Diguela following his guilty plea to 127 counts of fraud and 66 counts of money laundering linked to fraudulent VAT refund claims.
Dickoumba-De-Diguela and Assistance Médicale Internationale CC, of which he was the sole member, entered into a guilty plea agreement over claims systematically submitted over 12 years.
The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge sentenced him to 15 years for fraud, with five years suspended, and 10 years for money laundering.
