Sars lawyer ‘held hostage’ as NPA scrambles to shore up case against Gordhan: reports

Freedom Under Law (FUL) and the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) on Wednesday accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of an “11th-hour attempt to prop up a prosecution that‚ clearly‚ was hopeless from the start”.

This‚ the organisations said‚ after they became aware that the NPA “issued a subpoena to the CEO of the Government Pensions Administration Agency‚ calling on him to provide‚ among other documents‚ annexures to the Sars (South African Revenue Service) memorandum that is the foundation of the charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan”.

Also requested was “and an affidavit ‘explaining’ the approval of past requests for early retirement”.

On Thursday‚ reports emerged that a lawyer for Sars was held “hostage” in what is seen as part of the last-ditch attempt to shore up the faltering fraud case against Gordhan.

HSF and FUL said in a statement on Wednesday night that the subpoena to the Government Pensions Administration Agency “was issued over a week after the NPA announced the decision to charge Minister Gordhan”.

“The timing suggests a desperate‚ 11th-hour attempt to prop up a prosecution that‚ clearly‚ was hopeless from the start. This is information the NPA should have gathered long before any decision to prosecute was made‚ and the NPA’s failure to do so underlines the irrationality and unlawfulness of its decision‚” they said.

“This is especially so given that the information is likely to be exculpatory.”

The organisations said they “served a supplementary affidavit drawing the court’s attention to the subpoena and its implications” as part of their application to have the charges set aside.

It was claimed on Thursday that the Sars lawyer who had written the legal opinion on the early retirement and reappointment of former Sars deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay – which is the basis of the fraud charges – was detained by the Hawks’ lead investigator in the case.

The Daily Maverick reported that Sars’ deputy director of law administration‚ Vlok Symington‚ was “locked inside a boardroom” by the Hawks and current Sars commissioner Tom Moyane.

“…The Hawks needed Symington to urgently provide an affidavit with regard to the circumstances under which he wrote the 2009 memo with regard to Ivan Pillay’s early retirement‚” the website reported.

The Mail & Guardian reported that it had seen cellphone video clips “of an altercation between…Symington‚ four Hawks officials and the bodyguard”.

The M&G said “Symington’s legal opinion … stated that there was ‘no technicality’ that prevented Sars from reappointing Pillay and that he was ‘entitled’ to request Gordhan (minister of finance at the time‚ during his first round) to waive the early retirement penalty”.

National Prosecuting Authority head Shaun Abrahams - who made the announcement that Gordhan‚ Pillay and erstwhile Sars colleague Oupa Magashula would be charged – has been under pressure from many corners as the case is said to legally flawed and weak.

Abrahams has indicated that the charges could be reviewed after receiving representations by lawyers for Pillay and Magashula.

– TMG Digital