The year is continuing to be an ongoing nightmare for Christo Wiese.

First his fortune took a nasty knock, and now the former Steinhoff International Holdings NV chairman is in trouble once more.

This time, it’s with everyone’s worst enemy – the taxman.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is claiming that ENS – a law firm at which Wiese was an executive – helped multi-national oil company Tullow shift about R3,9 billion in assets out of the country to dodge taxes.

IOL has more:

A report by investigative journalist unit amaBhungane published on Thursday said papers filed in the Western Cape High Court show that SARS is pursuing Wiese and two other people personally for R217 million as part of a R3,7 billion tax claim based on Tullow’s “restructuring ”.

Whoa, that’s a huge sum of money you’ve skipped out on paying, bro.

Needless to say, amaBhungane‘s report paints a less than pretty picture of Wiese and his activities:

While a number of companies were involved, the three pivotal controlling hands were Tullow, ENS and, later, Wiese’s investment group, Titan.

The transaction is complicated, but it can be boiled down to three main steps. This is outlined in a web of “interdependent ” contracts between companies controlled by Tullow and ENS’s trust, all signed in one week in January 2007.

In step one, Tullow sold Energy Africa to the ENS-controlled SA company Elandspad Investments for $543,76 million (about R3,9 billion then). However, no money changed hands. Instead, the two groups set up a loan account a R3,9 billion IOU from Elandspad to Tullow.

Step two: Tullow transferred that loan account to its Dutch subsidiary, which immediately transferred it to Energy Africa (by then in Elandspad’s hands) along with an extra $1,2 million cash (about R8,6 million then). In return, Energy Africa handed the oil exploration assets back to Tullow, now using its Dutch subsidiary.

Actually, the R8,6 million cash was frozen — Energy Africa could not touch it for three years, the contracts stipulated. Consider this transaction from Elandspad’s vantage point. It was now the owner of Energy Africa, to which it owed R3,9 billion, but the assets that underpinned that obligation had been given to Tullow in the Netherlands.

All that was left was a cash shell, the Energy Africa holding company, and an account with frozen cash.

Which is what the firm sold to Wiese.

Suspicious, no?

SARS thought so, and they want their money back:

When SARS came knocking, Wiese allegedly moved assets out of the company and sold it to a former ENS executive who told SARS there was no cash or assets left to claim.

The report also said that case was due to be heard in court next month.

Oh, these poor billionaires and the suffering they have to go through.

[sources:iol&amabhungane]