Sars’ failings highlighted

Corruption Watch has made a submission to the Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance at Sars, which they hope will expose the lack of accountability of senior officials, as well as improve governance, accountability and transparency in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Spokesperson Phemelo Khaas said they hoped to expose the lack of accountability in respect of Kelly-Ann Elskie and Jonas Makwakwa and the consequences their actions would have on the good governance at Sars.

Leanne Govindsamy said: “We remain concerned that the lack of accountability and transparency in relation to this matter is severely undermining deterrence of corrupt activity at Sars and beyond. Of equal concern is the need to overhaul governance and administration at the entity in order to prevent and deter maladministration and corruption.”

Khaas explained that the submission pointed out suspended commissioner Tom “Moyane’s role in delaying the investigation into Makwakwa and Elskie. He claimed that international law firm Hogan Lovells was investigating allegations contained in the [Financial Intelligence Centre] report when, in fact, they were not doing so. Moyane’s contradictory statements, together with the response from the Hawks concerning the investigation into Makwakwa and Elskie are contained in these submissions.”

She said also highlighted in the submission was the role Moyane played in disclosing the confidential report to Makwakwa and Elskie and not reporting the matter to the Hawks.

“Since 2016, [Corruption Watch][ has closely monitored/ followed the progress of the investigations into Elskie and Makwakwa as contained in the FIC report and Moyane’s failure to act on the findings of the report, leading to the institution of criminal charges against these Sars officials. Therefore we have knowledge on this matter and we have done a lot of work relating to good governance, transparency and accountability in SOEs. We are of the view that the work we have done in this regard will be useful to the commission.

“We hope that our submissions will assist the commission in making recommendations that will achieve accountability but will also improve the governance and transparency in the administration so such conduct is prevented and deterred in the future.”

Moyane claimed international law firm was investigating the allegations, when they were not.