Case against SARS three deferred again
FORMER South African Revenue Services (SARS) officials Ivan Pillay, Johann van Loggerenberg and Andries Janse van Rensburg appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where the matter was again postponed.
It was adjourned to August 24 so that the defence could put in an application to compel the state to provide part B and part C of the docket, which have not been handed to the defence team.
Part B of the docket is the investigation diary and part C is the communication between the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority that led to the decision to prosecute the three.
Pillay, Van Loggerenberg and Janse van Rensburg are appearing on charges related to the alleged bugging of the NPA offices in 2007.
The charges form part of the alleged “rogue unit” narrative, now largely discredited. The allegations on the bugging of the NPA offices surfaced in a KPMG report, parts of which were retracted by the audit firm, which also refunded the R23-million that SARS paid for the report.
SARS commissioner Tom Moyane, who laid the initial complaint that led to the charges against the three, was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March.
Moyane was removed partly due to his handling of the disciplinary case against his second-in-charge, Jonas Makwakwa.