Claim that Moyane duped KPMG
Commissioner told witness to “act sick”
South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane allegedly instructed a witness to “feign illness” and not report for an interview scheduled with KPMG in 2015 when the auditing firm was investigating the so-called Sars’ “rogue unit”.
This is one of the allegations former Sars commissioner Ivan Pillay made in a letter sent to National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Advocate Shaun Abrahams yesterday.
Pillay made the allegations in his section of the letter written by attorney Bernard Hotz from Werksmans Attorneys on behalf of Pillay and former tax officials Johann van Loggerenberg and Andries Janse van Rensburg.
“The effect thereof was that material facts known to Mr [Hendrick] Lombard were omitted in the KPMG report including‚ inter alia‚ ‘Sunday Evenings’.”
Lombard was one of two whistleblowers of operation Project Sunday Evenings‚ allegedly ran by the so-called “rogue unit”. The unit was allegedly established to spy on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) that was prosecuting former police commissioner Jackie Selebi at the time.
KPMG withdrew all their findings‚ recommendations and conclusions of their reporting to “rogue unit” in September.
But Pillay‚ Van Loggerenberg and Janse van Rensburg were served summonses on Friday and have denied any wrongdoing as the Hawks seek to revive their case against the “rogue unit”.
They are set to appear in the Pretoria Regional Court on April 9 for allegedly contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act. The charges could be related to an alleged payment of R100 000 cash to Lombard.
Pillay’s letter also alleged there was a conspiracy between former and current Sars employees to “destabilise‚ disorganise and ultimately create havoc and damage to the reputation and stability” of Pillay‚ Van Loggerenberg and Sars in the form of Project Broken Arrow and Operation Snowman.
Pillay said several reports contain the disciplinary records of Michael Peega who was arrested on December 25 2008 for rhino poaching and possessing of illegal firearms and ammunition.
Pillay said the reports indicated Peega “sought to merge with other individuals” to “expose” and “take care of” Pillay‚ Van Loggerenberg and others.
He said the reports also contain correspondence with the former national police commissioner.
The trio said they had wanted to cooperate with the Hawks‚ but were denied this opportunity. They also wanted to know why the NPA did not obtain warning statements before prosecuting them now and urged it to drop their investigations