SARS has scuppered an attempt to set aside the liquidation of Gupta-linked company Regiments Capital, reports Fin24.

Regiments Capital featured prominently in questionable tenders awarded to Gupta-linked companies.

A Regiments subsidiary was also an adviser to the Transnet pension fund and is accused of abusing this position to the detriment of fund members. This included suspect trades in bonds meant to boost commission, and questionable payments related to financial instruments that were linked to the corrupt deal in 2012 to supply Transnet with 1 064 locomotives.

Several parties with links to Regiments brought an application to set aside the company's liquidation. 

SARS intervened and opposed it, but the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) set aside the liquidation.

SARS and the liquidators took this on appeal to the SCA, which ruled on 18 May that the High Court decision be set aside, thereby confirming Regiments' liquidation.

The SCA decision places the winding up of the company, including the unbundling of its investments, in the liquidators' hands, and under the ultimate supervision of the creditors and the Master of the High Court. Inherent in the court proceedings was the authority to unbundle significant share transactions and the protection of the distribution of the proceeds, notes Fin24.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said in a statement on Friday that he was pleased about the SCA ruling. 

‘These proceedings demonstrate that SARS is attuned to the nuances of corporate structuring and has the skills and the resolve to intervene and act firmly to protect the fiscus and act purposively in the overall interest of the tax base,' he said.

'The outcome of this complex and highly contested appeal reflects my undertaking, given at the start of my term, to act decisively and judiciously to combat instances of state capture and to regain public trust and confidence.'

Full Fin24 report

Judgment