The creator of popular TV shows like My Brother's Keeper and Muvhango, Duma Ndlovu, was granted R100 000 bail after being arrested last night. Ndlovu was arrested by the Hawks and charged with multiple cases of fraud and tax invasion. 

FRAUD CHARGES

Ndlovu appeared before the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crime Court Court today alongside his co-accused, Rodney Mutsharini and Maxwell Mloyi. Mutsharini, a registered tax practitioner who allegedly assisted the film maker with his personal income tax and Maxwell Mloyi, who is an un-registered tax practitioner but assisted Ndlovu with his company's income tax. They have been charged with 18 cases of tax fraud relating to Ndlovu's personal and company income tax valued of about R26 million.

Investigative Directorate Against Crime (IDAC) spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the trio's arrest and court appearance come after a collaboration between SARS and the IDAC, which uncovered an alleged collusion between the suspects in misrepresenting Ndlovu's personal and company tax affairs. Mamothame said subsequently, IDAC authorised an investigation into the awarding of contracts by SARS, and the Commissioner of SARS was notified of these investigations with a view to mutual co-operation and information sharing. He added that the investigation discovered that a company that formed part of the investigations, Bain and Company, was contracted by SARS to render services. The company allegedly sub-contracted Ambrobite (Pty) Ltd, now known as Kanoboya Consulting (Pty) Ltd, owned by Ndlovu, to render strategic and project management services between November 2013 and September 2016. "This was, however, misrepresented by Ndlovu and his tax practitioner, Mloyi, when submitting tax returns to SARS. Mloyi together with Ndlovu declared to SARS that the company was dormant and that it never traded during the tax period 2013 to 2017, resulting in a financial loss to SARS," he said, adding that in relation to his personal income tax, it was discovered that Ndlovu together with Mutsharini misrepresented his personal income tax return for the period 2016 to 2019. "Furthermore, they submitted his personal income tax return for the years 2020 and 2022 but neglected to make a submission for the year 2021, which resulted in another financial loss to SARS. The total financial loss to SARS due to these alleged offences is estimated at approximately R26 million," Mamothame said.

GRANTED BAIL

Ndlovu was released on R100 000 bail, while Mutsharini and Mloyi were granted R50 000 bail each.The matter was postponed to 11 November 2024 for further investigations. The court ordered Mloyi and Mutsharini to surrender their travel documents, report to their nearest police stations every Monday, and should they wish to travel outside the borders of the country, they should make an application with the court. Meanwhile, Ndlovu was ordered to report to Sandton police station every Monday or Wednesday, notify the clerk of the court of his KwaZulu -Natal change of address and submit an application to the court should he desire to travel outside the borders of South Africa.