Moyane drops Lackay lawsuit

Sars and its suspended commissioner, Tom Moyane, have ditched a R12-million suit for defamation against the organisation’s former spokesperson, Adrian Lackay, although no reasons have been given for the change of heart.

Suspended commissioner, Sars drop lawsuit against former spokesperson.

In an unexpected turn of events, suspended South African Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner Tom Moyane has retreated on charging former spokesperson Adrian Lackay with defamation and has withdrawn the R12 million lawsuit.

Lackay had a target on his back after he addressed a letter to parliament’s standing committee on intelligence several months after Moyane came into office, detailing the commissioner’s role in tarnishing the state institution, while refuting allegations of a “rogue unit” within Sars as stated by Moyane and Sunday newspapers.

Moyane and Sars filed a R12 million lawsuit against Lackay, claiming defamation.

But according to a notice from the High Court in Pretoria, dated September 27, the two plaintiffs, Moyane and Sars, decided to withdraw the charges against Lackay.

The reasons are unknown. When contacted yesterday, Moyane immediately hung up when The Citizen made their introduction. He did not respond to calls or texts, either.

Acting Sars commissioner Mark Kingon also could not furnish further information, stating he was not updated on the matter.

“I don’t have information at hand. I will have to get an update from the legal people. The last I dealt with this was two weeks ago,” he told The Citizen.

Lackay’s last-ditch effort to extricate Sars from its current predicament began with his submissions to the then chairperson of the standing committee on intelligence, Yunus Carrim, and Cornelia September, chairperson of the joint standing committee on intelligence, on March 23, 2015.

But the ongoing legal case put a strain on Lackay and his family and “wasn’t easy”, he told The Citizen. “It was difficult for my family, also. But I had the wonderful support of my former Sars colleagues and my wife. It is a relief but I am still feeling quite emotional at this point.”

Lackay’s 2015 submission was leaked to the media by the DA and contained startling insight to the machinations behind the scenes of what pointed to targeting of Sars as a credible institute – allegedly aided and abetted by Moyane.

Lackay then made his submission: “The context of my employment at Sars as the official media liaison and spokesperson, and for the specific period since September 2014, which coincides with the appointment of Mr Tom Moyane (the Commissioner).

“During the latter part of 2014, I was caused by the commissioner to issue statements to the media and it became apparent to me at a later stage that such public state- ments contained false and incorrect information.”

No action appeared to have been taken by either committee, leading to the Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance at Sars.