The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is prepared to take legal action against South African banks to emphasise their obligations to report questionable transactions made by clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the warning issued by SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter, telling NewzroomAfrika<\/a> that banks cannot plead ignorance regarding this responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are laws in our Financial Intelligence Centre Act that require banks to report certain transactions if they suspect they may be questionable,\u201d Kieswetter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that banks get close enough to see the repeatability, the nature, and the volume of transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “So my message to banks would be: you cannot simply follow this from a compliance tick-the-box perspective.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, the commissioner clarified that banks must manage their duty from a \u201crisk to the entire financial ecosystem\u201d perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said banks may prefer not to know about suspicious transactions to avoid the need to take action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Kieswetter noted as a general principle, he believes that this idea should be put to the test in a court of law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “We are willing to pursue legal action to establish certainty by having the courts make a ruling on this principle,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kieswetter\u2019s comments come after the SARS served Sasfin Bank with a civil summons<\/a> for R4.87 billion plus interest and costs in the form of a damages claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n