Hefty SARS bill for former Gupta ally
Ex-Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa has landed a R2.6bn tax bill which he has been given until 13 February to settle.
The deals include the multi-billion rand locomotive deal between China South Rail and state-owned transport operator Transnet, the consultancy deal with Regiments Capital, the corrupt deal between Transnet and McKinsey & Company.
An investigation by law firm Mncedisi Ndlovu & Sedumedi Attorneys found that the locomotive deal was riddled with corruption, which led to the cost increasing from the budgeted R38.6bn to R54.5bn.
Essa and others are alleged to have received ‘kick backs’.
City Press reports that the probe also found that McKinsey was paid for the work that was done by another service provider.
Essa fled to Dubai in 2017 as the Gupta empire was unravelling. The details of Essa’s tax bill are contained in a tax audit report conducted by the SARS, dated 21 December 2023.
SARS said Essa did not declare the amounts received as income in his tax returns submitted for the 2012 to 2015 tax periods.
According to evidence at SARS’ disposal, Essa and Kubentheran Moodley, the director of Albatime, were instrumental in facilitating a business relationship between Regiments and McKinsey.
At that time, McKinsey had contracts with SOEs, particularly Transnet and Eskom.
The audit found that, although at first Essa appeared to be cooperative, he was obstructive by providing incomplete and uncorroborated responses.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
