Sars appears to be targeting customs clearing agents in a major tax crackdown.
According to Times Live, Sars has taken swift action and cancelled the licence of a Durban-based customs clearing agent, Ocean Light Shipping, for defrauding SA Breweries of nearly R140m, making it almost impossible for the business to operate in the country in the future.
Using the services of the clearing agent, SAB had imported Corona Light beer from Mexico between August 2018 and November 2019. The cargo was cleared in the Port of Durban in 139 import transactions, however SAB later discovered that the goods had been fraudulently cleared as ‘traditional African beer’ in a bid to evade import duties. It emerged that, as a result, the clearing agent had not paid over import duties and VAT totalling R139m to Sars, which then sent a letter of demand to the brewery in July 2022, stating that it must recover the taxes from the clearing agent.
SAB eventually took the matter to the Johannesburg High Court which ruled in favour of Sars stating that SAB had been in a position to be the first to discover the fraud because it was in the possession of documents and shared information, placing it in control of the agent in their relationship.
The court added that Sars had not imposed asset forfeiture on SAB because of its agent’s fraudulent activities.
“The tax amount which is the subject matter is not a form of punishment but fulfilment of payment obligation on the applicant’s part ... applying the law into facts, there is no other answer than that the business-like approach is to attribute principal-agent relationship between the applicant and Ocean Light. If Ocean Light is agent of the applicant, as already found, applicant ought to pay Sars, not Ocean Light,” the court ruled.
SAB spokesperson Kanyisa Ndyondya said given the severity of the agent’s actions it was now taking legal advice after the judgment.
“As soon as we were aware of the fraudulent actions of Ocean Light we immediately informed Sars. As a result, we are not doing any business with Ocean Light as their actions are not aligned with our values and compliance as a business,” Ndyondya told the publication.
Attempts by Freight News to contact Ocean Light for comment on Wednesday via several office telephone numbers listed on its website were unsuccessful.
In an earlier Sars-related incident, Jayson Perumal of Dynamic Freight and Reshlan Pillay, director of Potenza Capital, who have been charged with defrauding Sars and clients of more than R2m in a customs- and excise-related scheme, appeared in the Durban Commercial Crime Court in July 2022. Pillay and a clearing agent allegedly processed customs entries while working with Perumal, who had been working on behalf of importers.
Potenza Capital allegedly submitted false documents to Sars where the value and description of goods and importers had been falsified, to cut duties and VAT to a minimum amount.
Sars warned at the time that importers must demand that clearing agents provide proof of payments made to Sars.
