Shake hands, have a beer, says judge

SARS WHISTLEBLOWER LOSES COURT BID Legal eagle crashes to earth as attempt to stop disciplinary proceedings fails.

Senior SA Revenue Service (Sars) legal expert Vlok Symington was inclined to melodrama and should have settled his differences with Sars commissioner Tom Moyane’s bodyguard with a handshake and a beer, a high court judge has said.

Judge Hans Fabricius yesterday turned down Symington’s urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria to stop his pending disciplinary hearing and feared dismissal.

Sars said in a statement the ruling vindicated their view that the investigation and disciplinary action against Symington was lawful and they would continue with his disciplinary hearing.

Symington claimed Moyane had instigated disciplinary charges against him in revenge for his role in getting criminal charges against former finance minister Pravin Gordhan withdrawn, but Sars reiterated that Moyane had not laid charges against Gordhan, nor victimised Symington for being a political whistleblower.

“This was a blatant misrepresentation of facts and unsubstantiated rumours that perpetuated a negative narrative that blemishes the integrity of Sars”, the revenue service said.

Fabricius said although the “broader background” and issues of state capture might become of critical importance to the country, it had nothing to do with Symington’s disciplinary hearing.

Symington asked the court to stop his hearing pending an application to have disclosures he made to, amongst others, the Independent Complaints Directorate and the National Prosecuting Authority declared as protected disclosures and for protection as a whistle blower.

He made the news after a scuffle in a Sars boardroom on October 18 last year in which he claimed he had been held hostage by Moyane’s bodyguard, Thabo Titi, and members of the Hawks when he refused to hand over documents relating to his 2009 memorandum – which led to the Gordhan charges being withdrawn.

Fabricius said it was the grievance lodged by Symington and his insistence that Titi must be fired which led to an investigation and Sars’ decision to hold a hearing due to conflicting facts.

He said Symington had not been charged in respect of any disclosures he had made after the incident. Symington’s defence that his conduct during the scuffle was reasonable ought to be put before the disciplinary inquiry, he said.