Tax man watched porn ‘to catch cheat’

FRED Botha’s troubles started with a telephone call about tax evasion and pornography.

The South African Revenue Service investigator got a titillating tip-off. So he asked his bosses for special internet access so that he could do some X-rated detective work.

The curious story of how a criminal investigator ended up being fired for ogling porn has emerged in a judgment handed down in the Labour Court in Cape Town.

The wrangle began in 2009 when Botha asked for unrestricted web access so he could see websites featuring “sexually related material, gambling, interactive content, entertainment, advocacy and drug-related content . . . required in a criminal investigation”.

Judge Robert Lagrange explained in his judgment of February 10 how the events unfolded.

Botha said he had received an “anonymous telephone call” about a tax-dodger who was advertising a pornography business on two websites.

His supervisor was said to be “shocked” when SARS head office complained about Botha viewing pornography. There was said to be scant evidence that what he called “research” was related to a genuine tax investigation.

Lagrange, summarising the evidence, noted that: “Once he [Botha] had obtained access, he claimed it was necessary for him to monitor the websites on an ongoing basis in case the advertisements in question came up, because he did not have the name of the company he was trying to investigate.

“He claimed this was also the reason he had not filled in the form required [by] standard operating procedures when initiating an investigation.”

Asked why he flouted procedure — the official paper trail was a “single entry in his desktop diary” — Botha responded that it was “one of those cases in which the paper trail had not been kept”.

Botha was found guilty of misconduct at a disciplinary hearing and given a final written warning.

SARS disagreed with this sanction and dismissed him in 2011.

Botha went to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, which said it was “sceptical” about the porn tip-off but that the dismissal was procedurally and substantively unfair, and Botha must be reinstated. SARS challenged this in the Labour Court.

“The egregious character of SARS’s conduct warrants a maximum award of compensation for procedural unfairness in my view,” said Lagrange.

SARS must pay 12 months’ salary to Botha, compensation of R455 000.

But the judge found the reason for Botha’s dismissal valid.

Botha disagrees with this and has lodged an appeal.