Mining magnate Roger Kebble denied any mystery around his brief appearance in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. He is charged with five counts of fraud.
”It was a simple thing. I went there for a postponement,” said the father of slain businessman Brett Kebble, who managed to evade the media during his appearance.
”Cameramen were lying on the deck waiting for me. Typical,” Kebble told Sapa.
He confirmed that his case had been postponed until June 22. This was to give his defence more time to respond to the charges.
Kebble is being charged with fraud relating to tax evasion. According to the charge sheet, the first three counts of fraud relate to a business called Skilled Labour Brokers, of which Kebble was the sole member.
The business was registered for tax purposes in 1996, and VAT returns were submitted for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001.
However, Kebble failed to declare that the business had received any gross income in the income tax returns for those years.
”The South African Revenue Service (Sars) suffered prejudice in the amount of R1 479 828 as a result of the accused’s conduct,” read the charge sheet.
The fourth and fifth counts of fraud relate to income-tax evasion in Kebble’s personal capacity, where he allegedly defrauded Sars of R5,7-million.
According to the charge sheet, Kebble failed to declare income he had received from gains on share options and directors’ remuneration from Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) in 1999 and 2002.
Kebble left DRD in 2002 after being suspended following allegations of share manipulation.
His son Brett was involved in a similar dispute around share manipulation, which resulted in his resignation from mining company Western Areas.
Roger Kebble was arrested in November 2002 over 38 counts of fraud and contraventions of the Companies Act.
These charges — relating to about R6-million — were dropped in June last year when the case was thrown out of court.
Roger Kebble resigned from the board of Simmer and Jack Mines in December last year, telling the gold-mining company he needed to spend more time with his family following the murder of his son Brett in September 2005.
Speculation on the murder has been rife, ranging from a botched hijacking to assassination, and police have yet to make any arrests. — Sapa