The former chairman of liquidated Square One, Garth Coetser, will appear in court later this year on charges of tax fraud.
Service (SARS) through false value-added tax (VAT) claims. In May 2010, he handed himself over to police after finding out there was a warrant for his arrest.
Prosecutor advocate Marius Oosthuizen says Coetser's case will go on trial in the South Gauteng High Court on 21 and 22 August. The case has taken some time to get to court after several postponements.
In 2010, 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.
Two former Square One subsidiaries were allegedly used in a bid to defraud SARS of R23.8 million. The two companies, both of which were sold off by Square One several years ago, are among a total of 18 firms that were allegedly used as vehicles to submit 198 fraudulent VAT returns between 2007 and March 2010.
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 liquidated towards the end of September 2010, because of its “precarious cash flow situation”.
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