Conviction wanted for Le Roux

2008-07-15 20:07

Cape Town - A prosecutor asked the Wynberg Regional Court on Tuesday to convict former national cricketer Garth le Roux and his accountant on a string of tax fraud charges.

Bronwen Hendry was delivering closing argument in the trial, which began in September 2006.

Le Roux and Deon van Heerden, along with several companies controlled by Le Roux, have been charged with VAT and income tax offences.

The charges relate mostly to the way they dealt with commissions due to Le Roux as an agent for the sale of properties on the prestigious Fancourt golf estate at George.

Hendry told the court that Van Heerden's legal team had put up a "smokescreen of spurious aspersions" against the state and the SA Revenue Services investigator in the case.

The result was that instead of a defence for Van Heerden, who did not enter the witness box, there was a vacuum.

True legal position

And while much was made of allegations of malicious prosecution, this also in the end turned out to be a smokescreen.

Hendry said the court could not accept Le Roux's defence of ignorance of the VAT act and the mechanics of the VAT system.

He in fact had a far better understanding of the system than was originally made out, and in any case had had a duty to acquaint himself with the true legal position.

Le Roux could not reasonably have believed that the commissions, amounting to hundreds of thousands of rands, were not subject to income tax or VAT.

The circumstantial evidence before the court was overwhelming, and the only inferences that the court could draw pointed to the guilt of the accused.

Closing arguments in the case continue on Wednesday and Thursday.

Le Roux and Van Heerden originally faced 47 charges, but were acquitted of just under half of them at the close of the state case in September last year.

- SAPA