Crous acquitted of fraud but fined for VAT offences

Controversial businessman Theunis Crous and his co-accused in a R5.4-million fraud case that has dragged on for years were acquitted yesterday.

The two – who were acquitted on the fraud charges – were, however, slapped with a R150 000 fine each after being found guilty on an alternative charge.

In the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court yesterday, Crous, 61, and his former employee Almero Pienaar were found guilty on the alternative charge of contravening the VAT Act.

Crous and Pienaar were arrested by the Hawks in November 2012 for allegedly submitting false value-added tax (VAT) refunds on behalf of Ho Hup Corporation between December 2009 and January 2011.

It was alleged that in November and December 2010, Pienaar approached several suppliers and asked them to provide pro forma invoices for the supply of goods so that he could secure financing from Money Mentor Finance (MMF) for a low-cost housing project in Motherwell.

The suppliers were each allegedly told to submit pro forma invoices for the first 70%, after which the outstanding payments would be made once work had begun.

It was only after some of the suppliers began work or started delivering goods that they learnt that MMF had declined all financing.
The prosecution alleged that, despite some of the goods not being supplied, Pienaar – at Crous’s behest – submitted VAT returns to SARS reflecting that R3.6million and R1.8-million respectively were due to Ho Hup.

At the time, Pienaar was Ho Hup’s chief financial officer.

The court found that Crous and Pienaar had submitted false entries in the VAT 201 returns without reasonable grounds for believing these to be true.

Crous, who lives in Johannesburg, was the sole owner of Port Elizabeth construction company Ho Hup Corporation, since liquidated.

During the pair’s previous appearance, advocate Bruce Dyke said the prosecution could not prove that Crous and Pienaar had an intention to defraud SARS, and that when certain errors were brought to Pienaar’s attention, he immediately attempted to correct them.

Dyke said that there was no evidence to suggest that Crous and Pienaar acted with a common purpose to commit a crime.

After the defence closed its case yesterday without leading evidence, the men were fined R150 000 each and given three-year prison sentences suspended for five years.