Sars fraud: Mpumalanga man arrested and released on bail after attempting to swindle half a million rand

A man who allegedly tried to swindle almost R500,000 from the South African Revenue Service (Sars) has been granted R3,000 bail.

"Linda Hlanze appeared in Elukwatini Magistrate's Court on Monday after he was arrested by the Hawks Nelspruit based Serious Corruption Investigation team for trying to defraud Sars of R453 423.57," said Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi.

He is accused of approaching two people who lost their jobs and allegedly filing fraudulent claims using fake IRP5 forms.

Police said when the people realised their claims were not processed by Sars, Hlanze called a Sars employee and asked for help to process the claims in return for the payment.

Nkosi said one of the people Hlanze approached reported the matter to police and it was handed over to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) for further investigation.

Hlanze was traced to Nhlazatshe where he was arrested.

"He was released on bail and warned to make his second court appearance on March 10," Nkosi said.

Mpumalanga Hawks head, Major General Nico Gerber, said it was disturbing that criminals take advantage of Sars to unduly benefit from taxpayers' money.

"We will investigate the matter to establish if the suspect is working alone or in cahoots with others. Our team will do their best to bring all those involved before court," Gerber said.

seanne.rall@iol.co.za

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