Judge sheds more light on Moyane finding
RETIRED Judge Robert Nugent yesterday inadvertently shed more light on his recommendation to President Cyril Ramaphosa to dismiss suspended SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane.
He made his views known when he detailed some of the pertinent evidence before him that continued to trouble him during the hearings into the administration and governance at Sars after the appointment of Moyane in September 2014.
The judge expressed his views after hearing evidence of how an internationally-renowned IT advisory company, Gartner, was “irregularly awarded a contract worth more than R200 million to introduce a new IT system at Sars three months after Moyane was appointed.
According to Judge Nugent, the multimillion tender award to Gartner was not a unique phenomenon.
“The same thing happened with Bain Consulting. There are emails showing there were seven meetings between Bain and Sars officials before Bain was awarded the tender to introduce a new operating model for Sars.
“On the eve of (the) Moyane appointment, an email was sent to Bain informing them about the impending appointment,” Judge Nugent said.
One of the meetings, the commission earlier heard, was held at former president Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead, in which he allegedly asked Bain representative Vittorio Massone to assist him turn around Sars. Moyane was part of that meeting. “It is appalling,” the judge repeatedly said.
Law experts warned Ramaphosa that he risked being accused of violating Moyane’s labour rights if he rushed to implement Judge Nugent’s recommendations to immediately fire the suspended commissioner.
Moyane’s lawyer, Eric Mabuza, said yesterday Ramaphosa had requested his client to make representations before October 26 on Judge Nugent’s recommendations.
The judge had recommended Ramaphosa should “take steps without delay to remove the current commissioner”.
Moyane earlier this month approached the Constitutional Court requesting the suspension of the Nugent inquiry until the conclusion of his internal disciplinary hearing.