Mining magnate Roger Kebble has appointed new auditors to look into five counts of fraud being brought against him, the Johannesburg Regional Court heard on Thursday.
Kebble has also appointed a new legal representative, Max Hodes, SC.
Although the court was expected to set a date for trial in the Johannesburg High Court, because of these developments it postponed the matter until August 31 in the same court.
Prosecutor Marius Oosthuizen, from the Director of Public Prosecutions Office, said Kebble’s legal team intended making new representations to the state.
”I am confident charges will be withdrawn,” Hodes told the court.
Earlier, before the sitting, Hodes slipped and fell on the highly polished court floor, hitting his head against a wall and sustaining a golfball-sized lump above his left eye.
Kebble was in court for the brief session.
The charge sheet was not in court and the prosecution had to make a duplicate before the session could proceed. According to the charge sheet submitted at the previous appearance, the first three counts of fraud relate to a business called Skilled Labour Brokers, a close corporation 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.
”Sars [South African Revenue Service] suffered prejudice in the amount of R1 479 828 as a result of the accused’s conduct,” according to the charge sheet.
The fourth and fifth counts of fraud relate to alleged 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 Ltd 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 in connection with 38 counts of fraud and contraventions of the Companies Act. These charges — relating to about R6-million — came to naught 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 2005, telling the gold mining company he needed to spend more time with his family following the murder of his son Brett in September.
Brett (41) was on his way to the home of his partner, Sello Rasethaba, when he was shot.
No arrests have been made in connection with his murder. – Sapa