TROUBLES are mounting for beleaguered oil mogul, Thabiso Moroahae, the owner of Tholo Energy. While he faces allegations of corruption and fraud in Lesotho, his South African registered Tholo Energy Services CC has suffered a crushing defeat in its seven-year legal battle against the tax authority.
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The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, dismissed Tholo Energy Services CC’s appeal against a Gauteng Division of the High Court judgement that endorsed the South African Revenue Services (SARS)’s decision to reject the company’s claims for a M4.25 million refund of fuel and Road Accident Fund (RAF) levies.
The battle started in March 2017 after Tholo Energy Services CC submitted refund claims on 25 consignments of diesel exported to Lesotho.
The SARS rejected the refund claims because the fuel was not obtained from stocks of the licensee of a customs and manufacturing warehouse (a refinery).
The company appealed to SARS’s internal appeal committee but lost.
It then approached the Gauteng Division of the High Court where it lost again before appealing to the Supreme Court which ended the battle this week by dismissing the appeal.
The court ruled that to claim a refund on fuel and Road Accident Fund levies, a licenced fuel distributor must obtain the fuel directly from a licensed warehouse, not a depot as Tholo Energy Services CC did.
The distributor, the court said, should produce an invoice from the licensee of the customs and manufacturing warehouse.
It found that while PetroSA invoiced Tholo Energy Services CC, the payment came from Tholo Energy, the Lesotho company.
The court confirmed the High Court’s decision that Tholo Energy Services CC didn’t qualify for the refund because the fuel had been paid for and transported to Lesotho by a Lesotho registered company.
It said the SARS and the High Court were correct to declare that the claims were invalid because Tholo Energy Services CC did not export the goods as provided for in the tariffed items.
Tholo Energy in Lesotho was the true purchaser and exporter of the fuel to Lesotho as indicated by its payment to PetroSA and transporting fuel to Lesotho.
The court said Tholo Energy Services CC was seeking a refund for something it did not pay for.
There is a striking resemblance between that case in South Africa and the allegations that Moroahae and Tholo Energy face in Lesotho.
An explosive affidavit exposed how Tholo Energy cheated the government of millions by under-declaring fuel levies for over 10 years.
The allegations were made by Tumisang Thahanyane, the former chief operations officer of Tholo Energy, who is charged with stealing M40 million from the company.
The affidavit is in a case in which Thahanyane is trying to block the police from attaching properties on allegations that they are proceeds of crime.
Thahanyane says he discovered that Tholo was under-declaring fuel sales to the authorities when he joined the company as the chief finance officer in 2015.
He says he discovered that Tholo was illegally making about M5 million per month or M60 million per year by under-declaring fuel levies.
He alleges Moroahae used the money to fund his lavish life of expensive cars, several extramarital affairs and a mansion.
Staff Reporter
