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For Se-Anne Rall 
1 hour ago
DURBAN – Former ANC MP Vincent Smith has had to hand over his assets, including his property, the wholly owned company Euro Blitz 48 (Pty) Ltd, and his family trust up to the value of R46 million.
Smith, who has been accused of fraud and corruption related to the benefits he received from the state company Bosasa, accused of capture, received the court order yesterday.
Investigation Directorate (ID) spokesman Sindisiwe Twala said Smith has to hand over control of his assets to a court-appointed curator.
He said that the restraining order granted to the National Director of the Public Prosecutor’s Office under article 26 of the Law for the Prevention of Organized Crime (Poca) extends not only to Smith’s property, and that of his family trust and his company Euro Blitz 48, but also to certain property of his daughter, Brumilda Smith, and the property of any other person or entity that has received an affected gift under section 12 of Poca.
Twala said Smith and the other named related parties are prohibited from dealing with and / or disposing of the restricted property while the restraining order is in effect.
“PwC’s Trevor Hills has been appointed by the court as the bonis conservator to take control and preserve assets pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings brought against Smith and Euro Blitz 48,” he said.
Twala said that in October last year, Smith, Euro Blitz 48 and their co-defendant Angelo Agrizzi appeared before the Palm Ridge Special Crimes Court on charges of fraud and corruption stemming from gratuities worth roughly R800,000 accepted by Smith and Euro Blitz by Agrizzi and / or Bosasa.
She said Smith served and chaired the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee that oversaw the Department of Correctional Services while Bosasa was under scrutiny for winning contracts worth more than R1 billion from the department amid allegations that the contracts were corruptly awarded. .
According to Twala, the restraining order is also necessary to preserve assets while investigations continue into additional illegal activities from which Smith obtained corrupt profits that were not disclosed to either the South African Revenue Service or the Registrar of Interests of Members of Parliament.
In the restriction request, the head of identification, defender Hermione Cronje, said the evidence reveals a pattern of corrupt activities that took place over a period of about a decade, during which Smith illegally enriched himself in exchange for the use of his political influence.
“He used Euro Blitz 48 (Pty) Ltd as a money laundering vehicle to receive the proceeds of those illegal activities on his behalf and to hide the nature and ownership of the profits,” Cronje said.
Smith also faces charges of tax fraud and evasion for receiving undeclared payments to Sars.
The restriction request details the following benefits received by Smith and / or Euro Blitz 48:
- R200,000 valued security upgrades installed at Smith’s Roodepoort residence by a Bosasa company at no charge.
- Two cash payments totaling R671 743.90 credited to Euro Blitz 48 account by Agrizzi and / or Bosasa and transferred to Smith.
- Cash deposits totaling R1 150 600 deposited into Euro Blitz 48 account between 2013 and 2018, while Smith was a prominent MP. The source of the cash deposits was concealed and Smith used them to his advantage.
- Payments totaling R17 081 613.46 made to the Euroblitz 48 account (and used by Smith for his benefit) between 2007 and 2018 by real estate development companies in terms of consultancy agreements that designated Euro Blitz 48 to streamline the Gauteng provincial government applications for development rights and obtain positive results on those applications.
- An amount of R9 009 723.54 is Smith’s assessed tax liability.
Smith’s assets (and those of Euro Blitz 48 and Smith’s family trust) will be restricted pending the completion of the fraud and corruption case and / or tax charges.
MESS
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