Makwakwa wants Sars subpoenaed to strengthen his case

Former SA Revenue Service (Sars) deputy chief operations officer Jonas Makwakwa wants Sars to be forced to disclose information that he can use in his presentation scheduled for later this month.

Makwakwa was suspended in 2016 and resigned in March 2018 in the midst of a pending investigation into “unusual and suspicious” payments made into his account.

The former COO wants the Nugent commission of inquiry to subpoena Sars to issue information he needs for his hearing testimony.

Information required by Makwakwa are reported documents with evidence produced by witnesses who had testified against him at the inquiry probing tax administration and governance at Sars.

The witnesses include Sars officials Gene Ravele, Bernard Mofokeng and Makungu Mthebule.

The former Sars deputy is scheduled to make submissions to the public inquiry later in the month and believes documents, should his ask be granted, would help substantiate his testimony.

According to a Fin24 report, a letter dated July 30 addressed to the commissions chair, Judge Robert Nugent, stated information Makwakwa required was available publicly.

In the letter, Makwakwa’s lawyer states that the information the former COO needed was already in the public domain, although he argued the rest must be requested from the revenue service in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

Makwakwa, who has called witnesses’ allegations “baseless”, has also questioned if they would be recalled and cross-examined.

The former Sars deputy has been at the centre of controversy since reports of suspicious activity in his account surfaced.