Fifty-year-old owner of SHL Wholesalers, Suhayle Ballim, has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on 39 counts of fraud by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.
Ballim used his business as a conduit between February 2004 and April 2007 by submitting fraudulent VAT refund claims worth R16 million to the South African Revenue Service.
The trial lasted 14 years due to Ballim’s tactical delays.
He applied to have the magistrate recuse himself to avoid being sentenced, but it was denied since the court had mandated that sentencing processes begin.
NPA spokesperson, Phindi Mjonondwane, says, “As the NPA, we welcome the sentence and would like to commend the prosecution team as well as the criminal investigation team from SARS, for ensuring that this perpetrator of tax crimes that undermined the country’s socio-economic wellbeing, and the rule of law, is brought to book.”
