Mpumalanga: Tshepo Macdonald Motswene, 36, has been granted bail by the Witbank Magistrates’ Court after his arrest for contravening the South African Revenue Services Act. The arrest was made by the Hawks’ Nelspruit based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team.

According to South African Police Service, It is alleged that in January 2020, Motswene, as the sole director of TMM Material Supplier and Projects, registered the company for Income Tax and received a tax reference number from SARS. However, he was not registered for PAYE. Using his business account at First National Bank, Motswene submitted an income tax return for the year 2012 to claim PAYE credits, which led to refunds. The investigation revealed that he used false information and PAYE numbers, including that of the South African Police Services, on his claim. The misuse of information on the IRP5 certificate resulted in SARS suffering a financial loss of R996,253.68. Motswene was released on R5,000 bail, and the case is set to resume on December 6, 2023, in the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes court. The investigation into this matter is ongoing.