Prosecution is to protect govt malfeasance – ‘rogue unit’ Sars officials

The three former senior Sars officials who appeared in court today says their appearance is the latest instance in a campaign to harass and vilify them in order to protect malfeasance in government.

Ivan Pillay‚ Johann van Loggerenberg and Andries Janse van Rensburg are accused of bugging the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) offices in 2007.

They briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court today facing charges of corruption and contravention of the Rica Act. The matter was postponed to June 18, and will be heard at the North Gauteng High Court.

The three released a statement this evening, saying the current charges against them were preceded by an abortive attempt to prosecute Pravin Gordhan, Ivan Pillay and Oupa Magashula in October 2016.

“That attempt was preceded by a disinformation campaign in the media to which spurious investigations and innuendo about our involvements in an alleged ‘SARS rogue unit’ were leaked at regular intervals. The prosecution against Gordhan and others was thwarted when it was revealed that the DPCI/Hawks had withheld exculpatory evidence from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA),” the statement read.”

“The criminal charges against us are no different. The NPA has decided to charge us under the same criminal complaint laid by the suspended Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (Sars), Tom Moyane, who instructed the now-discredited KPMG investigation.

“As they hadn’t in 2016, we were never asked to complete warning statements in respect of the charges we now face, more than 18 months later, despite the clear obligation on the State to have done so, in terms of the NPA Prosecutions Policy. The NPA also did not offer us a chance to make representations to them until after the summons were served and only acceded to this after we had to ask for such – a privilege they seem to have reserved for others.

“We contend, without reservation, that the charges we are accused of are eminently contestable. This prosecution is an abuse of authority by the NPA and is not aimed at advancing the rule of law, so prized in our constitution.

“It is about delaying or preventing the restoration of good governance to our state institutions. It is driven by ulterior motives of certain individuals at the NPA, Hawks and formerly at Sars.”

The three said despite these considerations, they place their faith in the integrity of the judicial process.

“We continue to avail ourselves to assist the prosecution authority to reach a just and equitable resolution of this matter,” their statement concluded.

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