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Ex-Square One bosses convicted in R216m fraud case

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 08 Aug 2017
Garth Coetser, Anton Meyer and Clifford Stevens were convicted of fraud, forgery and money laundering.
Garth Coetser, Anton Meyer and Clifford Stevens were convicted of fraud, forgery and money laundering.

Former Square One chairman Garth Coetser and his two co-accused, Anton Meyer and Clifford Stevens, have been found guilty of defrauding the South African Revenue Service (SARS) of R216 million.

The three were convicted of all the charges brought against them at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg yesterday.

ITWeb has been closely following the trial, which has been postponed on several occasions, since 2010.

Marius Oosthuizen, a senior advocate in the Specialised Tax Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority, says sentencing is expected on 16 August.

The trio was convicted of fraud, forgery and money laundering after submitting value-added tax (VAT) returns seeking refunds the companies, used as part of the alleged scam, were not entitled to.

It was the state's case that the accused acted as directors and representatives of 18 entities and, acting with common purpose with one another, operated a fraudulent VAT scheme. The scheme ran from January 2007 to March 2010.

After all the augments were heard, acting judge Mathew Klein said: "It is my view that the state has, indeed, discharged its onus and the accused's involvement in the VAT scheme has been proven beyond reasonable doubt."

Square One, which was founded in 1986 and listed on the JSE in 2000, had several operating entities. It owned all of Structured Infrastructure Solutions, Square One Technology Solutions, Square One Managed Services, Square One Group Operations, Square One Solutions and 51% of Square One Capital.

The company was liquidated towards the end of September 2010, because of its "precarious cash flow situation". Meyer is also a former Square One director, but stepped down from his position in 2007.

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