Thoshan Panday's tax evasion case postponed due to power outage
Durban businessman Thoshan Panday is charged with fraud and tax evasion.
Image: File
The ongoing tax evasion and fraud case against Durban businessman Thoshan Panday and Kaseev Traders CC had to be postponed on Tuesday as the Durban Magistrates Court, experienced a scheduled power outage.
Panday 51, told the Durban High Court that he will plead not guilty to the 24 charges of fraud and alternative charges under the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 and the Value Added Tax Act 89 of 1991. His co-accused, Seevesh Maharaj Ishwarkumar, representing the entity Kaseev Traders CC, said that he would also enter a not guilty plea.
The charges stem from alleged misrepresentations made to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) between 2009 and 2015. The potential prejudice to Sars in the 27 counts he is charged with amounts to more than R7.5 million.
Prosecutor Talita Louw read out the indictment, which states that Panday was a controlling figure in several businesses, including GoldCoast Trading CC, Unite Mzansi Trading & Projects CC, Valotone 21 CC, and Bravosat 25 CC. These entities were registered with SARS for VAT and corporate income tax.
The accused allegedly submitted false VAT returns that understated sales and overstated input VAT claims and allegedly submitted false annual financial statements, declaring entities as dormant when they were actively generating income, and falsely reporting gross sales, cost of sales, and net profits.
"The information contained in the VAT returns was in all material respects untrue and incorrect, and the accused misrepresented the amounts received from business sales and instead pretended that the entities had received lesser amounts,” read Louw from the indictment.
According to the indictment, GoldCoast Trading CC failed to register as a VAT vendor when taxable supplies exceeded the R1 million threshold, as required by law.
“At the end of November 2009, the accused wilfully, and without just cause, failed or neglected to apply for registration as a VAT vendor during which period the value of taxable supplies made by GoldCoast had exceeded the amount of R1 million,” said Louw.
The indictment detailed systematic misrepresentation across multiple VAT periods, including false declarations in periods March 2010, May 2010, July 2010, and September 2010.
GoldCoast Trading CC and Unite Mzansi Trading & Projects CC were liquidated on 26 March 2025 and 17 May 2022, respectively.
Louw further read the notice in terms of Section 212B of the Criminal Procedure Act which allows the State to give notice about the facts that will be deemed proven during the trial, unless the accused provides notice that those facts are in dispute.
The matter was postponed to Wednesday.
nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za