Huge liquor syndicate exposed
2003-10-21 18:19
Johannesburg - A major player in the liquor industry has welcomed the SA Revenue Service (Sars) raids on up to 15 illegal liquor production plants across Gauteng on Tuesday.
Tshidi Seane, spokesperson for Guinness UDV, the South African subsidiary of London-based Diageo plc, told Sapa that the uncovering of a huge illegal liquor syndicate in South Africa had strengthened his group's faith in the justice system.
Guinness UDV owns whisky brands Johnny Walker, J&B and Bells as well as Captain Morgan rum and Smirnoff vodka.
Smirnoff was one of the brands illegally made of imported raw alcohol and "correctly" bottled and labelled at the illegal liquor production plants raided on Tuesday.
Other spirits manufactured and marketed by the syndicate were brandy labelled as "VO Bertrams" and bottles bearing labels such as "Odessa", "Palm Beach" and "Overberg".
Seane said: "Although the packaging of the product may look authentic, those who know our brand will recognise the difference in the taste. If they find they've bought a bogus bottle they should contact our office on 011-313-2600."
Asked if his group would examine stocks of their product at any outlets, Seane said: "Yes, we must consider testing random samples but at the moment we don't know the extent of the distribution of this illegal liquor. We will have to find a way to educate our consumers to tell the real thing from the fake. Perhaps a start might be to watch out for the price - bargains happen but check it out first."
Sars spokesman Sechaba Nkosi said the plants raided were at various locations in Kempton Park, Crown Mines, Roodepoort and other places in Gauteng.
"But each raid leads us on to another. It may well be that the raids will continue beyond Gauteng and even countrywide."
Nkosi said the raids followed a two-month-long investigation which showed that raw alcohol was being imported and turned into bottled spirits.
"At one plant we found 72 pallets with bottles being made ready for use," Nkosi said.
Bottle tops were imported from India and the bottles were labelled correctly before being sent to outlets but it was not yet clear how much liquor had been sold, for how long, or to which outlets, Nkosi said.
The police would investigate these details.
The revenue service's interest stemmed from the fact that the raw alcohol was imported from Asia and marked as in transit for export to an unnamed country outside South Africa, so that no duty was payable.
However the alcohol stayed in South Africa and so escaped duties of hundreds of thousands of rands, Nkosi said.
"The liquor is being sent for forensic testing to determine whether quality control has been in any way comprised because there is a risk that the raw alcohol content could inflict physical damage," Nkosi said.
- SAPA