CAPE TOWN - Former member of the African National Congress (ANC) and member of parliament (MP), Vincent Smith has been slapped with additional charges by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for tax evasion amounting to over R28 million.
Smith returned to the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday where he faces charges of fraud and corruption. However, he was hit with a curve ball when the final indictment was served as charges now include: tax fraud, money laundering, corruption and breach of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA).
NPA spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said the tax fraud charges stem from Smith and Euroblitz’s failure to disclose taxable income from March 9, 2009, and July 11, 2018, totalling R28 Million.
“Smith stands accused in his personal capacity as well as representative capacity for his company Euroblitz 48 Pty Ltd. He is charged with corruption for the gratifications he received from BOSASA in the form of security upgrades to his Gauteng home. He further faces corruption charges by accepting gratifications from Waterfall Golf Estate (Pty) Ltd and CLIDET 69 (PTY) LTD,” Seboka said.
Smith also faces charges of accepting cash that was transferred into his personal bank account and that of his company from BOSASA and other people unknown to the state.
“In addition, he faces fraud charges for failing to disclose to parliament's Register of Members’ Interest of the gratifications, cash deposits and money that was paid to him by Waterfall Golf Estate (Pty) Ltd and CLIDET 69 (PTY) LTD,” Seboka added.
During proceedings, Smith’s defence counsel requested the state to provide them with a paginated document after the final indictment against their client was served on Tuesday.
The case against the former MP has been postponed until January 21, 2022.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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