Three Zimbabweans to spend 10,000 years in South African prison after crime spree backfired

Three Zimbabweans have been jailed for 10,000 years in prison after their come spree backfired.

The ZimEye reports that sentencing of the three Zimbabweans and six others for fraud by the South Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, sends a strong message that crime does not pay.

The Zimbabweans, Mavudzi Maxwell Ndlovu, Edward Shoniwa, and Jeremiah Nyasha Musiwacho Dube, have been handed down a staggering 10 939 years in jail for their involvement in a sophisticated fraud scheme.

The group was convicted on 391 counts of money laundering, fraud, and forgery, as well as several other offences including assisting another person to benefit from unlawful activities, contravening various Acts, and the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

The sheer scale of their criminal activities is shocking, with a total of 23 cases opened against them at the Johannesburg Central police station.

According to the South African Police Service, the accused were members of various entities registered under the Close Corporations Act and/or the Companies Act, and had fraudulently claimed undue VAT refunds from the South African Revenue Services (SARS).

They submitted false VAT returns and forged invoices to support their claims, resulting in SARS being defrauded of a staggering R300 million.

The accused operated under a common purpose, transferring the ill-gotten funds into various bank accounts under their control.

Despite the entities in question not conducting any legitimate business during the period they claimed the refunds, they managed to deceive SARS and siphon off a substantial amount of money.

The involvement of South African nationals who met their deaths during the trial, as well as two others who turned State witnesses, further highlights the complexity and severity of the case.

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