Fire Sars commissioner, president advised

RETIRED judge Robert Nugent has recommended that suspended Sars commissioner Tom Moyane be fired.

A preliminary draft of the Nugent Commission’s findings is sitting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, with another of the recommendations stating the appointment of the new commissioner be done in an open process rather than a decision made by the president.

Ramaphosa placed Moyane on suspension following a litany of allegations against him, including his paying a tax return of more than R70million to a Gupta-linked company, while withholding returns due to compliant taxpayers of more than R70billion since he took office in September 2014.

The president then appointment Nugent in May to head the commission tasked to investigate administration and governance at Sars since Moyane took over.

Since July, the commission heard testimonies of how smuggling of abalone, illicit flows of goods and money laundering took centre stage since Moyane was appointed.

Nugent said his commission’s decision was brought about by “reckless mismanagement of Sars under the tenure of Mr Moyane, and it ought not to be permitted to continue”.

In his recommendation, Nugent urged Ramaphosa to “take steps without any delay to remove the current commissioner from Sars.

Moyane’s lawyer Eric Mabuza said Moyane had not received the report and that they did not participate in the Nugent Commission.

Nugent said: “The president should thereupon take steps without delay to appoint a new commissioner of Sars.

“To inspire confidence in a new commissioner of Sars, the commission further recommends that he or she be appointed through an open and transparent process that is subject to critical appraisal,” he added.

Ramaphosa said he was applying his mind to the recommendation.