Cape Town - The alleged “money man” for underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack has made a new bid for freedom amid years of delays in a multi-million rand tax fraud case at the Western Cape High Court.
Faried van der Schyff returned to court on Thursday to appeal his bail application as his trial has been delayed due to Modack’s appearance on a separate matter.
Faried and Modack were arrested in October 2021 alongside Ruwaida Modack, Yaseen Modack, Bashier Syce, Layla Bedderson, Dominique McLachlan and Kulsum van der Schyff for allegedly defrauding SARS out of R46 million.
Shortly before this arrest, Modack was nabbed for the death of slain Anti-Gang Unit detective, Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear.
While others in the group were released on bail, Faried’s application was not successful and he was set to stay in the mang until his trial is heard.
However, it has since been revealed that as Modack cannot be on trial for two different cases at the same time, the tax fraud case might take several years to complete.
It is understood that Faried brought his application due to the lengthy imprisonment he will face waiting for his trial, the lack of facilities for him to view electronic information relating to his case, and his wife’s deteriorating health.
The matter was postponed to 4 March for the appeal to be heard.
According to the indictment, the State claims that a host of businesses and trusts registered by the “Modack Family Business” were merely set up to claim tax returns.
These businesses include security companies and car dealerships.
The State alleges that Faried and Modack were the kingpins, with Faried as the tax practitioner, allegedly submitting false claims to SARS, while Modack allegedly konkeled the false information.
The rest of the group are accused of being employees of the various entities which were investigated by a SARS criminal investigator.