Ritondeni Luvhengo (43) made a brief appearance at the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on 21 October 2024 for charges of fraud and contravention of Tax Administration Act. This comes after he was served with court summons on 21 October 2024.
It is alleged that between 2018 and 2019, three accused, Thato Lekhetho (39), Lekhetho and Sons Trading and Luvhengo submitted false Value Added Tax (VAT) 201 returns to the South African Revenue Services (SARS) by under declaring output on VAT with intention of obtaining an undue refund. As a result of their misrepresentation, SARS was prejudiced and suffered a loss to the amount of R1 246 840.02. A case docket was registered and referred to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in Bloemfontein for a further probe.
The other two accused, Thato Lekhetho and Lekhetho and Sons Trading have already appeared in the same court on 6 March 2024 where they were warned for the next court date. The court granted Luvhengo R1500.00 bail and the matter was remanded to 24
November 2024 where he will be appearing with his two co-accused in the case.
Source: South African Police Service