DA queries SARS boss resignation
THE Democratic Alliance wants to know if suspended South African Revenue Service (SARS) deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay’s silence cost R6-million.
In a short statement yesterday morning‚ SARS confirmed that Pillay and head of strategic planning and risk Peter Richer had resigned with “immediate effect”‚ and that “all charges and related investigations have been withdrawn”.
That means the disciplinary hearing against Pillay and Richer for their alleged involvement in the alleged “rogue unit” within SARS will not go ahead. The statement described the parting of ways as “amicable”.
DA finance spokesman Dion George noted that Pillay had been “particularly vocal in questioning the motives behind the purge within SARS”‚ in which “a host of senior management have either been suspended or dismissed” since the appointment last September of new commissioner‚ Tom Moyane.
Pillay’s resignation‚ George ventured‚ “thus … raises serious questions as to whether he is being silenced or not”.
He cited media reports last week that suggested Pillay and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa were in negotiations which would result in Pillay being paid out R6-million if he left. He said he had sent a series of parliamentary questions to the deputy president and finance minister about the matter.
“With his now sudden resignation‚ the evidence suggesting an ANC-mandated cover-up is mounting‚” George said.
This‚ he said, was evidenced last week when President Jacob Zuma rejected the DA’s call for him to institute a judicial commission of inquiry into SARS‚ as‚ according to Zuma‚ “there is sufficient‚ independent attention and investigations of the matters”.
It was an investigation by an independent advisory board headed by Judge Frank Kroon that found the rogue alleged unit to be “unl and which endorsed findings of a panel headed by Muzi Sikhakhane‚ which was the basis for the suspension of Pillay and Richer.
Thursday morning’s announcement was met on social media by scepticism‚ with some suggesting that a deal had been cut to avoid the hearing. — RDM News Wire