KPMG must be ‘accountable’

SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane, pictured, and auditing firm KPMG must face repercussions for the fiasco around claims of a “rogue unit” in the revenue service which led to several people losing their jobs, including former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, the SA Communist Party (SACP) says.

“Moyane relied on the KPMG ‘rogue unit’ report to engineer the dismissal of key Sars personnel dealing with sensitive matters related to state capture,” the SACP said following KPMG’s withdrawal of the report which Moyane used to lay criminal charges against Gordhan.

“It is also evident the ‘findings’ of the KPMG report were in fact predetermined by instructions from within Sars. KPMG has now, quite correctly, disavowed these ‘findings’, while Moyane, instead of getting to the bottom of who in Sars pushed KPMG in this direction, defends these concocted ‘findings’.”

The SACP said the company’s conduct was deplorable. “Their role resulted in the destruction of the careers of honest and patriotic public servants and it has deprived one of the best-performing public institutions of professional capacity.

“KPMG must be held accountable for its role in manufacturing the ‘Sars rogue unit’ propaganda and in converting the cost of the 2013 Waterkloof military airbase landing Gupta wedding to a business expense.”

In the so-called #GuptaLeaks, a trove of leaked e-mails, KPMG is accused of helping the family pass off costs for a relative’s wedding as business expenses. According to reports, the multimillion-rand event was paid for with state funds looted from a farm. – ANA