Partial discharge for Le Roux

2007-09-21 14:42

Cape Town - Former Springbok cricketer Garth le Roux and his accountant Deon van Heerden were cleared on Friday of just under half of the 47 tax fraud charges they were facing.

Wynberg Regional Magistrate Jackie Redelinghuys also found Le Roux not guilty on a charge of contravening exchange control regulations.

However he said "explanations" were needed on many of the remaining counts, and on one of them warned that "a conviction of accused 1 and 2 may follow".

His ruling followed an application for discharge at the end of the State case.

Le Roux's close corporation Garth le Roux Marketime CC and two other Le Roux companies cited as co-accused were also discharged on a number of counts.

Tax probe

The trial, which has been running since last year, is the result of an SA Revenue Service tax probe into Le Roux's activities as sales agent for properties on the prestigious Fancourt golf estate at George.

The state claims among other things that there were irregularities in the way the two men dealt with commissions earned through Marketime.

In his judgment, Redelinghuys said that just under R2m in commissions due to Marketime was never declared for tax, instead being set off against the purchase by the other Le Roux companies of two houses at Fancourt.

"There is sufficient evidence to show that these amounts formed part of [Marketime's] gross income and that they should have been declared to SARS," he said.

Redlinghuys found the state had failed to prove that Marketime had illegally claimed VAT input credit for vendors that the CC listed as Virgin Active, WP Junior Chess, Gojo Karate, Top Vid, and Willie Marx Cycles.

"Fact is that the court does not know what the goods or services acquired were and whether they were acquired in the course of making taxable supplies," he said.

However an explanation was needed for the claim on a VAT inclusive amount of R67 830 for "membership to Fancourt".

Explanation needed

Explanation was also needed on evidence that Marketime claimed VAT on commission and consultancy fees in 2000 related to a closed corporation named Pirlak, which according to evidence registered as a VAT vendor only in October 2003.

Redelinghuys postponed the case to November 26 for the legal teams to give him "some idea of where we are going after my judgment".

He told Le Roux and Van Heerden - who are both on bail - that they need not be in court then.

"If of course you are in the neighbourhood and want to pop in, you are more than welcome," he said.

- SAPA