Wednesday February 1 2023 – A MAJOR new offensive against organised crime networks looting South Africa launched today as the High Court extended an order freezing the assets of a Zimbabwe-based tobacco giant accused of stealing billions of rand in tax revenue from our State.
The Stop Skyf Capture campaign targets criminal syndicates who are flooding shops across the country with illicit cigarettes and robbing national coffers of R50 million EVERY DAY.
“Kingpins of this industrial-scale theft have allies embedded at the highest level,” said Yusuf Abramjee, founder of Tax Justice SA. “They are siphoning their stolen billions to offshore havens, where they are building lives of luxury, a world away from the devastation they wreak in a land hollowed out by State Capture.
“Stop Skyf Capture demands that authorities act immediately to halt this brazen looting of our nation. South Africans are suffering and we can’t afford to tolerate this economic sabotage a single day longer.”
The Stop Skyf Capture campaign launched as the High Court extended an order allowing the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to freeze the assets of Gold Leaf Tobacco Corporation (GLTC) over unpaid taxes reportedly totalling more than R3 billion.
“Court documents show Gold Leaf Tobacco’s illicit cigarette operation was at the centre of a plunder network that featured a vast money-laundering racket and the corrupting of five Sasfin bank officials enlisted to sneak billions of rand to foreign countries,” Abramjee said.
“Since those crimes were allegedly committed in 2017, the illicit cigarette market has boomed as a direct result of the Government’s unconstitutional lockdown ban on tobacco sales and it is now 1000% bigger than it was a decade ago.
“Criminals today control South Africa’s cigarette trade, which has become the biggest black market in the world and is operating in broad daylight in shops throughout the country.
“Only last weekend, tens of millions of cigarettes smuggled in fuel tankers across the border from Zimbabwe were seized as they reportedly received a police escort from corrupt cops.
“This is nothing less than Skyf Capture, and now’s the time for it to Stop before it brings all South Africans to their knees.”
Stop Skyf Capture is an initiative of Tax Justice South Africa (TJSA). Full details available at >>> www.StopSkyfCapture.co.za <<<
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