The Western Cape HIgh Court has warned alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack to get ready to face a second high profile trial next year, this time for allegedly defrauding Sars out of R46 million.
This was revealed on Friday as Modack returned to court with his mother, Ruwaida and brother, Yaseen.
The trio were busted along with Faried van der Schyff, Bashier Syce, Layla Bedderson, Dominique McLachlan and Kulsum van der Schyff by the Hawks in 2021.
They face over 700 charges of racketeering, fraud, money laundering, forgery and uttering and contraventions of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act.
The State is set to prove that the group had registered as Value Added Tax vendors and were e-filing claims for refunds which could not be determined, and that payments of R46 million were received.
To date all the accused have been granted bail while Modack and Faried have been remanded in custody.
The arrest came shortly after Modack was charged for the murder of slain Anti-Gang Unit detective Lieutenant- Colonel Charl Kinnear for which he is currently on trial at the High Court.
During proceedings on Friday Modack’s Legal Aid lawyer, Advocate Bash Sibda, told Judge Hayley Slingers that his client was concerned about the October trial date as he needed to focus on the murder trial.
But Slingers says Modack must make time for preparations.
“As Mr Brand has indicated that his client [Faried] has brought a bail application and it was declined. He has been in custody for two years. So I am not putting pressure on you Mr Sibda but he does need to give this matter attention as well.”
The tax case has been postponed to 31 January for another pre-trial hearing.