A former Sars official and two other people are facing 208 fraud and customs-related charges amounting to about R120 million following a joint Customs and SA Police Service sting over illegal trade in cigarettes.
Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay told FTW Online yesterday that they had been arrested at their homes in Alberton and Bedfordview on Tuesday morning. Another former Sars official suspected of being involved in the syndicate’s activities could not be arrested as she is currently in hospital.
The three suspects are accused of conducting a ghost export scam where imported cigarettes earmarked for export to neighbouring countries re-enter the domestic market without duties and taxes being paid.
“In an operation that started at about 6:00 am on Tuesday morning, members of the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Unit, supported by Sars investigators, arrested Waldo Headger, a former Customs official, in his flat in Alberton before moving to the residence of Walter Cyril and his wife Letisha Pillay in Bedfordview,” Lackay told FTW Online.
“Police requested the assistance of their Special Task Force to force entry into the house after Cyril and Pillay refused the police entry to execute the warrants of arrest for the couple.
“Investigators remained at the house for the greater part of the day for further investigation and seizure of documents and computers, before taking the accused to the Boksburg North Police Station on Wednesday afternoon where they were charged and taken into custody.”
Both Headger and Maluleka resigned from Sars after their involvement in the scam was discovered.
The accused appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
