Ex-Sars auditors sentenced for graft

Two former SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs auditors were sentenced to three years’ direct imprisonment for corruption in Durban on Thursday.

Narrating events leading up to their jailing and prosecution, Sars spokesperson Sandile Memela said yesterday: “Pranesh Maharaj from La Mercy and Reuben Moodley from Newlands West were both caught red-handed with a cash bribe of R100 000 in a brown paper envelope in their pockets in a police operation in March 2018.”

He said Maharaj and Moodley acknowledged they had issued a notice to a well-known KwaZulu-Natal businessperson in February 2018, advising him of an imminent audit of companies where he was a director.

During a follow-up meeting, the two solicited a bribe of R200 000 from him “to make his tax problems disappear”. “Later the same day, Maharaj contacted the businessperson, asking for an advance payment of R10 000, which was duly paid. Maharaj did not inform Moodley of this arrangement, nor shared the money with him.

The businessperson, however, reported the matter to the police.

“A decision was taken to set up a police trap in terms of section 252a of the Criminal Procedures Act,” said Mamela. “The businessperson provided the cash, which was divided into two envelopes, each containing R100 000.

“The police pounced on the accused as they were walking away, after the businessperson handed them the envelopes in the parking lot of the Standard Bank, Kingsmead branch on March 2 , 2018, as was arranged between them.”

The Durban Regional Court also sentenced Maharaj and Moodley to an additional two years’ imprisonment, conditionally suspended for five years. Maharaj offered to repay the R10 000 that was paid to him by the taxpayer.

Both employees resigned during a Sars disciplinary process in August 2018. New Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter welcomed the sentence.