Suspended tax boss Moyane to gate-crash SARS inquiry

Suspended SARS head Tom Moyane will be appearing at the Nugent inquiry on Friday - despite not being formally invited to appear.

Moyane's lawyer Eric Mabuza told TimesLIVE that the suspended tax boss regarded the inquiry‚ conducted by Judge Robert Nugent into tax administration‚ as "nothing else but a witch hunt being conducted on Commissioner Moyane's tenure at SARS".

He said: "That the Commission did not see the need to invite and consult with Commissioner Moyane should be concerning to anyone who is interested in the most basic notions of fairness and absence of bias.

"Of paramount and serious concern is the fact that both this and the parallel process chaired by Adv Bham SC (investigating misconduct allegations against Moyane) have ostensibly been appointed by the same President of South Africa to enquire into the same subject matters.

"The President has also unlawfully and grossly unfairly appointed his personal and business attorney as one of the members of the Commission of Inquiry further entrenching the existing bias of the Inquiry."

Mabuza said Moyane had wished for "an opportunity to raise these and many other fundamental objections and challenges to the institution and intended continuation of this Inquiry in order to protect his clearly violated constitutional right to fairness and due process".

"He is appreciative that the Commission has this morning kindly agreed give him limited audience at 9.30am on Friday‚ June 29‚” Mabuza said.

The inquiry's terms of reference direct Nugent to review the process for the appointment of the SARS Commissioner and SARS governance structures‚ to ensure that stakeholders and taxpayers have more influence. It's also interrogating alleged corruption authority during Moyane's tenure.

Mabuza has said the terms confirm Moyane's "witch hunt" suspicions‚ "not to mention the curious choice of witnesses by the Commission which was predictably headlined by the ubiquitous Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, a former SARS Commissioner during a period which falls outside the Terms of Reference".