King protests as SARS moves in on Ferrari, Plett home

This is yet another step in a saga that began 11 years ago - SARS and the Reserve Bank attached all of King's South African assets in 2002 and 2006. King said on Friday (16 November) that he would appeal the order, that becomes final on December 5.

He described the order granted by the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday (14 November) as another "meaningless attachment" as SARS and the Bank had already attached all of his South African assets in 2002 and 2006. The latest order was "neither here nor there" and did not change his position in any way, he said.

The North Gauteng High Court appointed Cloete Murray, a director of Sechaba Trust, as the curator in whom the assets would vest. These included King's family home in Johannesburg and its contents, with an estimated value of R85m, his beach house in Plettenberg Bay, with an estimated value of R20m, and a Fancourt property worth an estimated R8m.

Several of the companies associated with King, including Metlika Trading, Talacar Holdings, Gaius Atticus and Ben Nevis were cited as respondents in the preservation order.

The court also made an order that Murray could replace any guards at any of the properties with guards under his command. Murray would also be entitled to apply for the eviction of any person who was occupying any of the premises belonging to companies Talacar or Gaius Atticus.

The court further ordered that all the motor vehicles belonging to Talacar be handed to Murray within a specified time.

He would also be entitled to take immediate control of the Talacar wine collection.

The assets may be sold by auction or through out-of-hand sales, on conditions set by the court.

King said he would continue with the litigation that started 11 years ago to ensure that neither SARS nor the Bank succeeded in obtaining his assets. King's battle with SARS started when he sold his shares in his JSE-listed Specialised Outsourcing.

He had maintained that the sale of the shares was of a capital nature and not revenue and was not part of income.

King did not file any tax returns for 1998, 1999 and 2000 and came under the SARS spotlight when the sale of his shares in Specialised Outsourcing received media attention.

The revenue service issued tax assessments for 1998, 1999 and 2000 to the tune of R1.5bn, including 200% additional taxes and interest.

King appealed the assessments. After several delays in hearing the matter, his appeal against two of the three years was dismissed in 2010, and the assessments and tax amounts were confirmed.

SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay confirmed that the provisional preservation order was obtained in an effort to recover part of the tax debt.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge