Filmmaker joins duo in court over fraud and tax evasion charges

Duma ka Ndlovu's firm fingered at state capture inquiry

Filmmaker and producer Duma ka Ndlovu is expected to appear in court on Tuesday to face fraud and tax evasion charges emanating from alleged undeclared income spanning several years.

Ndlovu's co-accused in the matter, Rodney Mutsharini and Maxwell Mloyi, appeared yesterday at the Palm Ridge magistrate's court but their matter was postponed to Tuesday.

It is understood that Ka Ndlovu handed himself over to the police at the Brackendowns police station on Monday and will appear alongside Mutsharini and Mloyi on Tuesday.

The state alleges that Ka Ndlovu made misrepresentations in his income tax and corporate tax for his company Ambrobrite which resulted in Sars losing R25m.

Mutsharini is a former tax practitioner. The state alleges that he and Mloyi helped Ka Ndlovu make the misrepresentations to Sars.

Should Ndlovu be found guilty of the charges, the state wants them to be fined or imprisoned for no longer than two years.

According to a source close to the case, Ka Ndlovu was expected to appear in court on Monday but was delayed by his flight from Durban.

The insider said police went to his house to arrest him but upon arrival, he wasn't there and they only found his wife.

“Upon asking the wife where he was, she told the police he had already left. Police contacted Ka Ndlovu and found out that he was at the airport on his way to Johannesburg,” the source said.

The source said Ka Ndlovu's plane was delayed but after arriving in Johannesburg later he handed himself in.

The matter was postponed as Mutsharini and Mloyi are to apply for bail on Tuesday and Ndlovu is expected to join them in the dock.

In 2021 former partner at Bain SA, Athol Williams, revealed at the state capture commission that his company paid R3.6m a year to Ambrobrite — which is co-owned by musician Mandla KaNozulu — for strategic advice on procurement and introduction to political leaders.

He said the advisers were usually former CEOs and former public sector officials or Bain partners and that being paid R3.6m a year was not what they usually pay for such advisers.

He said Bain was also expected to pay Ambrobrite a success fee as part of the contract. 

“So already, we are talking [about] getting advice which you normally get from experienced CEO and you are getting it from artists, and you are paying artists far more than what you pay experienced CEOs,” said Williams.

In 2022 Bain was prohibited from doing business with the state for 10 years. The ban came after the state capture commission as well as the Nugent commission, which found  Bain had played a part in dismantling Sars.

Three years later, however, Ka Ndlovu will only be charged with non-submission of returns, fraud and tax evasion when he appears in court on Tuesday morning.

The charge sheet also states that Ambrobrite was dormant and never traded, yet it was contracted to Bain from November 2013 to September 2016 to render services and received consideration from Bain to the total amount of R8.4m during the tax years 2014 to 2016.

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