Former national cricketer Garth le Roux had acted openly and honestly in all the transactions over which he now faces fraud charges, his advocate told Cape Town’s Wynberg Regional Court on Monday.
Le Roux and his accountant, Deon van Heerden, are seeking a discharge at the end of the state’s case on the 48 counts of fraud they both face, and one exchange-control count against Le Roux alone.
The charges, also brought against three companies controlled by Le Roux, followed a South African Revenue Service (Sars) probe into Le Roux’s activities as sales agent for properties on the prestigious Fancourt golf estate in George.
The state claims the two men furnished false VAT and income-tax returns, and unlawfully set off commission against the purchase of a Fancourt property and golf club membership fees.
Le Roux’s advocate, Wim Trengove, said in heads of argument presented to the court on Monday that in terms of the Income Tax Act, computation of any taxpayer’s taxable income started with his gross income.
He said the commission never formed part of the gross income of Le Roux’s sales company, Marketime CC, to which it had been due.
Instead the money was ”sacrificed” to other companies that Le Roux had set up, and consequently never constituted taxable income in Marketime’s hands.
Trengove said most of Le Roux’s VAT returns were drawn up by Van Heerden’s firm, Financial Management Consultants, to whom Le Roux merely supplied raw data.
In the absence of any indication that doing so was inappropriate or wrong, Le Roux had been entitled to rely on FMC’s expertise.
”Even if the VAT treatment of the sacrificed commission was not correct, the error was not made with any criminal intent or negligence,” Trengove said.
”All the evidence overwhelmingly shows that Mr Le Roux at all times acted openly and honestly.”
Turning to a R250 000 Fancourt Links membership issued in lieu of commission in the name of another of Le Roux’s companies, Logoprops 44, Trengove said the court had seen no proof that this was not dealt with in accordance with the law either.
He said the state also alleged that Le Roux issued invoices to Plattner Golf, the company that owns Fancourt, in respect of the sacrificed commissions, collected payment of VAT on those invoices, then stole the VAT without paying it over to Sars.
”Those allegations are, we submit, scandalous. There is absolutely no basis for them in the evidence,” Trengove said.
Argument in the application continues on Tuesday.
Le Roux and Van Heerden are on bail. — Sapa