Acting Sars Commissioner Mark Kingon briefing the media at the opening of tax season 2018 in Alberton Campus and Contact Centre, 7 February 2018. Picture: ANA
An emotional Mark Kingon had to hold back tears while apologising to the country, the president, the minister of finance, former Sars officials as well as their families for “for the fear and pain they were put through” due to failures in leadership at the revenue service.
The Sars acting commissioner read out an apology at the Nugent commission of inquiry into Sars, saying he was “unreservedly” sorry for his leadership failures.
“I would like to say sorry for falling short of the highest standards,” he said, as well as “for not living up to the SARS values and higher purpose”.
Kingon admitted to having sleepless nights over the future of Sars.
“We need visionary leaders, and we don’t have that,” he said. “We need vision to take this place forward. The first part of healing is acknowledging that there is a problem.”
READ MORE: I know nothing of intelligence unit at Sars – Kingon to DA
Earlier this week, during a Sars briefing to parliament’s standing committee on finance, Kingon said he was not aware of any intelligence unit operating in the revenue collection agency.
Kingon was asked bluntly by Democratic Alliance member of parliament (MP) David Maynier whether, to his knowledge, there was any intelligence gathering unit, legal or illegal, within Sars or on behalf of the organisation within the State Security Agency (SSA).
“I don’t know, but I am not aware of any intelligence unit in the legal sense operating at Sars or for Sars at the SSA,” Kingon replied.
“Obviously we gather intelligence, but it is not an intelligence unit.”
Kingon said Sars needed to gather intelligence to fight tax crimes and illicit money flows.
“Tax crime is a very serious issue. You need intelligence to be able to tackle these things.”
The remarks came days after the Sunday Times again apologised for a series of articles on transgressions by a “rogue” intelligence unit within Sars, allegedly set up on the watch of Pravin Gordhan, currently minister of public enterprises, while he headed the revenue collection service. The newspaper parted ways with two investigative reporters who penned the stories.
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