The state's case against former Square One chairman Garth Coetser is expected to go to trial later this year.
Coetser appeared in court again last week Thursday and the state's case against him was again postponed to 13 May. The former Square One chairman handed himself over to police last May, after finding out there was a warrant for his arrest.
His arrest followed a South African Revenue Service investigation into 18 import and export companies for value-added tax (VAT) fraud.
Prosecutor advocate Marius Oosthuizen says Coetser will receive the charge sheet this week, and the parties will then reconvene in court in May to set a trial date, unless Coetser's lawyers offer a plea bargain and the matter is settled before then.
Oosthuizen says it is possible that the trial will take place towards the end of the year. He explains that, if convicted, Coetser faces a minimum jail term of 15 years.
Last year, Coetser and two other people were charged with defrauding the taxman by submitting fake VAT refund claims to the value of about R200 million. Payouts of about R150 million were made, before the alleged scam was uncovered.
Oosthuizen says a fourth person has since been arrested in connection with the VAT fraud and released on R20 000 bail. Co-accused Clifford Stevens was also a director of some of the companies involved in the alleged fraud, he says. Stevens appeared in court last week.
Coetser's lawyer, Pete du Plessis, from Du Plessis and Kruger Attorneys, expects the trial to take place in about August or September. He says the defence will work through the docket and charge sheet in anticipation of the May court date.
Coetser was one of the founding members of Square One and was appointed as non-executive chairman in December 1999, but stepped down shortly before his arrest. Square One was provisionally liquidated towards the end of May last year because of its “precarious cash flow situation”.
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