Sars’ Makwakwa in trouble again over alleged meddling – report

Suspended SA revenue service (Sars) executive Jonas Makwakwa is reportedly facing disciplinary action over a transgression apparently linked to his interference in a matter involving Durban billionaires Shauwn and S’bu Mpisane.

The Business Day reports that Makwakwa – who was suspended in September last year after R1.3 million in suspicious and unusual amounts were flagged by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to have entered his bank accounts and that of his girlfriend – may be in trouble again after attempting to assist the couple while on suspension.

According to two sources the business daily spoke to with knowledge of the disciplinary process, Makwakwa is alleged to have contacted an employee at the tax collection agency to intervene in the tax matter on behalf of the Mpisanes.

The well-heeled couple was declared “factually insolvent” by Sars in a court application requesting that their estate be sequestrated.

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Sources alleged that Makwakwa convened a meeting with the employee overseeing the Mpisane matter that was apparently attended by Shauwn Mpisane. However, the Sars official “later became nervous and alerted his superior, who asked for a complete report on the matter”, the report states.

The disciplinary process is said to have come about after the report was handed to Sars commissioner Tom Moyane, the very same person who sat on the FIC report about Makwakwa’s suspicious bank transactions since May 2016 until later in the year in September.

Though the paper reports that it is unclear which charges Makwakwa now faces, his contact with the Sars official could have breached the terms of his suspension.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday confirmed that Makwakwa had undergone disciplinary action in the past two weeks but said he had “not been privileged to be given the information of the outcome of that”.

The Business Day also reports that the probe over Makwakwa’s suspicious bank transactions stalled after he claimed that he had obtained the money from a “stokvel and taxi business”.