Sharitha Hariram was entrusted to represent racehorse owners who were not registered for Value-Added Tax (VAT). But Hariram committed fraud and theft and was sentenced for her crime three years ago. She applied for an appeal, however, the Durban High Court (Appeal Court) has dismissed her appeal on the sentence and confirmed the 10 years imprisonment that she was sentenced to in September 2020.
Hariram, 57, was convicted of fraud and theft involving more than R2.7 million, said Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, regional spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
“The incidents around Hariram’s case are as follows: She was granted special authority to represent racehorse owners who were not registered for VAT. This permitted her to register as a VAT vendor and submit a combined VAT return to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on behalf of the racehorse owners under her registration,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.
“During the VAT periods of October 2011 to August 2012 where she submitted to SARS, she made fraudulent claims for VAT allegedly expended by these racehorse owners to the value of over R2 million. In addition, she did not pay two racehorse owners a sum of over R700 000 which was refunded by SARS.”
Hariram was arrested after SARS conducted an intensive investigation that detected the crimes. The investigations also revealed that a few racehorse owners mentioned by Hariram did not exist, while others did not incur the VAT expense as claimed by her, said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.
“Following her sentencing, the court granted Hariram leave to appeal. However, on Friday, November 17, 2023, the appeal court dismissed her application and confirmed her original effective sentence of 10 years imprisonment. Senior State Advocate Selvan Govender represented the state in both the trial and appeal proceedings,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.
Ms Ramkisson-Kara added that offences of this nature hurt the country’s fiscus. The prejudice suffered by SARS could have been used by the government to finance its social, infrastructural, and economic responsibilities, she said.
