SARS number two suspended over R1.2 million in suspicious payments

·15 Sep 2016

The South African Revenue Service has reportedly suspended its second-in-command, Jonas Makwakwa, pending an investigation into R1.2 million in suspicious payments made into his accounts.

This is according to several reports, citing an internal letter sent out by Sars boss, Tom Moyane, to staff.

“I would like to assure all of you that when this matter was brought to my attention, Sars took all the reasonable steps within our policies to engage with the matter.”

“I believe Sars has followed the correct procedure in terms of our policies when it comes to such serious allegations of misconduct. I have today, 15 September 2016, issued Mr Makwakwa with a suspension letter pending the investigation,” Moyane said in the letter.

The news follows earlier reports that Makwakwa, Sars’ chief officer for business and individual taxes, had received suspicious cash deposits amounting to R1.2 million between 2010 and 2016.

Deposits of R450,000 were also made into his girlfriend’s bank account, who is also a Sars employee.

75 cash deposits totalling R785,00 were paid into Makwakwa’s personal bank account, the bulk of which were made in 2014 and 2015, the report said.

Moyane was grilled on the matter in Parliament on Wednesday, and questioned why he had not taken action against Makwakwa.

Moyane conceded he had not yet approached the Hawks on the matter. According to BDLive, Moyane had received a report about the payments in May, and had requested written reasons from Makwakwa in August.

National Treasury said in a statement on Thursday that it had not been informed of the news, however it noted that it met with Moyane and another senior official this week to discuss the matter.

“We are awaiting further information on the action that is to be taken by the senior management of Sars in this matter. National Treasury believes that public confidence and transparency are critical in order to be seen to be doing the right thing in this matter,” it said.