'Blue lights' company owner, two others in court for tax fraud

The Palm Ridge magistrate’s court on Tuesday released Vimpie Manthata, the owner of Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement, and two others on R10,000 bail each in their tax fraud case.

Manthata and his company were charged with Judy Rose, employed as a tax practitioner in the company, and Daniel Rothman, a registered tax practitioner who was providing services to the company.

They face charges of fraud and contravention of the Tax Administration Act during the 2016/17 and 2018/19 tax assessment period. The case was postponed to May 6 for disclosure.

Their court appearance follows a R191m contract that was allegedly irregularly awarded to Manthata’s company between March 2016 and March 2017 to fit emergency lights, or blue lights, to police vehicles. 

Former acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane and seven others, including Manthata and his company, are charged with fraud, corruption and forgery in relation to the R191m “blue lights” case.

“After the charges were laid against Phahlane and his co-accused, the Investigating Directorate (ID) extended its investigations into the tax compliance of the company, and the matter was referred to Sars for a thorough probe to be conducted,” said ID spokesperson Henry Mamothame.

He said investigations revealed that some of the representations made in the tax returns submitted to Sars were not truthful, as the taxable income earned by the company in the stated period was false.

“The gross income in these submissions was also falsified, resulting in a total loss of more than R27m to Sars and the National Treasury.” 

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