Hospital owner accused of tax fraud maintains his innocence

A DOCTOR and hospital owner accused of swindling the South African Revenue Service (SARS) of millions of rand insists that he is innocent and that his day in court will vindicate him.

Despite being served with an interim restraint order to the value of R39million by the KZN Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) last week, it has been business as usual at the Daymed Private Hospital in Pietermaritzburg. Owner Dr Navind Dayanand said he was co-operating with authorities.

Dayanand, has been accused alongside his wife Nerupa, who was the financial manager of the company, Douglas Mpofu and Carla Domenica Louden, both tax practitioners, as well as Yagasami Ronnie Perumal, a bookkeeper at the hospital, of defrauding SARS.

The group is alleged to have submitted false corporate income tax, value-added tax (VAT) and personal income tax returns to SARS.

To recoup the money from which the accused allegedly benefited, immovable property, medical equipment, furniture, vehicles and computers have been placed under curatorship.

Dayanand’s lawyer, Preggy Naicker, told the Sunday Tribune that they had been in communication with Sars and had been co-operating since 2017 when Dayanand’s tax woes began.

He said they did not agree with the

amounts mentioned by the AFU as they were in possession of documentation with a different figure.

“Queries and objections have been made since 2017, but, nonetheless, they decided to take another route.

“There have been a lot of discrepancies

with and we have had other correspondence where the value was higher. Our teams are re-looking into our books to get to proper figures,” said Naicker.

“The amount could be inclusive of penalties, interest and additional tax. Until we clarify, we aren’t sure what the real amount is.”

Naicker has blamed the hospital’s former accountant, who was dismissed in 2017 and turned State witness, for Dayanands’ problems.

In the same year, the accountant was arrested for falsely representing himself and faced a charge of suspected fraud.

At the time, the man’s lawyer said he was a qualified accountant with bachelor’s and Master’s degrees obtained through correspondence from the Canterbury School of Economics in London.

“Over a period of time, the so-called accountant was doing the work but when he was dismissed that’s when all these queries came to Dr Dayanand’s knowledge.

“My client has been co-operating with all the authorities. They have been in and out of the hospital and there are no issues.

“However, we heard a rumour going around that the doctor is disposing of assets, which is a lie,” he said.

In November, the Dayanands, Mpofu, Louden and Perumal were to appear before the Pietermaritzburg Commercial Crimes Court but Dayanand, his wife and Louden were a no-show. The court issued warrants of arrest, which have been stayed until the next court date in February.

“During that appearance, things were misconstrued. The doctor and his wife had a pre-arranged appointment and they couldn’t cancel. For those reasons a letter was handed to the court and it was accepted. It’s normal procedure for the court to issue a warrant and then stay it for the next court date,” said Naicker.

The attorney added that, under the circumstances, Dayanand had remained positive and had nothing to fear.

“The doctor is emotionally strong. Ultimately, he knows he is innocent and he will get his day in court to prove his innocence,” he said. “We just have to follow the process.”

NPA regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-kara said the matter would resume on February 24, for statements and for all the accused to appear in court. She said the alleged offences date from the period 2012 to 2020.

“The hospital is charged with company income tax fraud, VAT and PAYE credit fraud with an actual prejudice of about R37m to SARS and a potential prejudice of R498m for PAYE.

“Dr Dayanand is charged with personal income tax fraud, VAT fraud to the value of R142m and PAYE credit fraud with the potential prejudice of R637m to SARS,” she added.

Dr Dayanand is charged with personal income tax fraud, VAT fraud to the value of R142m and PAYE credit fraud with the potential prejudice of R637m to SARS NATASHA RAMKISSON-KARA NPA regional spokesperson