Cooperative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan will be summoned to testify at suspended SA Revenue Service (SARS) deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay's disciplinary hearing this week, according to a report.
City Press says that a senior source told them that if Gordhan didn't appear before the disciplinary panel, headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, then SARS would assume he approved of the formation of the allegedly illegal 'rogue spy unit'.
Two other sources told City Press that the tax collector was struggling to get Gordhan to testify against his former deputy.
SARS has been plagued by infighting. mass resignations and claims of illegal and unethical behaviour ever since Pillay was replaced by Tom Moyane.
In February Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene appointed retired judge Frank Kroon of the Eastern Cape High Court to an advisory board to investigate how the integrity of the institution could be restored.
Moyane was reportedly vindicated by Kroon's report.
The board confirmed that the establishment of a "secret unit" in 2007 was unlawful and all monies spent on it was "wasteful and fruitless expenditure".
However the board's report is not binding with regards to Pillay's or Peter Richer disciplinary hearings.
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