WILL 2019 BE ROCKED BY LITIGATION IN BUSINESS?

MBABANE - Is there too much litigation in the business sector?

The Supreme Court roll for the next session shows that out of the 64 appeals that would be heard, 25 of them are business-related cases. According to the roll that was issued by acting Supreme Court Registrar Banele Ngcamphalala, the first case to be heard by the highest court in the land will be on Monday, February 11, 2019. One of the much reported about cases which will be heard by the Supreme Court is that of Ngwane Mills and the Eswatini Revenue Authority (SRA). The company is challenging the judgment of High Court Judge Cyril Maphanga who ordered it to pay a sum of E40 million.

Seeking

Judge Cyril Maphanga dismissed an application where the company was seeking an order to review and set aside the decision of the SRA Commissioner General in terms of which he determined that it was liable to pay valued added tax (VAT) together with additional penalties levied thereon  amounting to the sum of E40 109 557.26. In his judgment, Judge Maphanga stated there was no question that in terms of Section Four of the VAT Act the applicant (Ngwane Mills) also had an obligation or at the very least also became liable to pay VAT on the non-declared wheat imports.

Held

The court held that the applicant had an active interest in the goods throughout the process of procurement and as such had a beneficial interest in the merchandise to qualify it as an importer and as such also became liable for the payment of VAT. A brief outline of the critical events which gave rise to these proceedings, were that during 2015, SRA carried out an investigation known as a custom post clearance audit into the applicant’s (Ngwane Mills) wheat business operations.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: