Yusuf Abramjee says cigarette smugglers have threatened to kill him

In a statement from Crime Stoppers International (CSI), it was revealed that their vice president, well known activist Yusuf Abramjee, has had to deal with South Africa’s illegal cigarette industry trying to intimidate him with death threats.

Abramjee discussed this during the Crime Stoppers International Conference that took place in Singapore earlier this month in his focus on the billions lost in tax revenue through tax evasion.

Abramjee spoke out against tax evasion and the illegal tobacco trade, telling delegates that “corruption has infected the institutions that were supposed to protect against it”.

He discussed the Take Back The Tax Campaign, for which he is the spokesperson, recounting the legal battle he claimed was being waged against him personally by a leading cigarette manufacturer in South Africa allegedly involved in the illicit trade.

“We will defend ourselves in the courts and provide the necessary evidence to back up what we said,” claimed Abramjee.

He played a voice recording of one of the many death threats he said he had received.

The Take Back The Tax Campaign has gained 23,500 signatories, he says, and “has been able to assist the government claw back over R8 billion in tax revenue”.

Abramjee announced that a new organisation, Tax Justice South Africa, was being set up to demand that action be taken against criminals stealing billions from South Africans every year.

Devrol Dupigny, the acting CEO of Crime Stoppers International, said that CSI would be partnering with Tax Justice South Africa and would take a leading role in collaborating with governments and law enforcement agencies to implement tax recovery in various countries in 2020 and beyond.

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)

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