Opinion

What - or who - lies behind Tom Moyane's desperate scrabble to get back into the hot seat at Sars?

16 December 2018 - 00:06 By ranjeni munusamy

Why is Tom Moyane so desperate to get his job back? The former South African Revenue Service (Sars) boss is exploring further legal avenues to challenge his dismissal and argue that President Cyril Ramaphosa and judge Robert Nugent treated him unfairly.
This is after the North Gauteng High Court eviscerated him, calling his conduct in the case he brought against Ramaphosa, Nugent and others "particularly reprehensible", "vexatious" and "abusive".
You would think that Moyane would now limp off with his tail between his legs, particularly after the Nugent inquiry exposed him as a wrecking ball at Sars and a minion of criminal networks, including the illicit tobacco industry and the Guptas.
But Moyane is determined to fight on, even though there is little prospect of success.
There are several reasons for this, not least of which are the shadowy figures pushing him from behind.
Moyane has refused to acknowledge that he drove Sars into the ground and was responsible for a R100bn shortfall in revenue collection. His epic battle with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and now Ramaphosa means his ego has been pummelled by his firing being validated and by a series of legal defeats.
But Moyane still has much at stake as the final report of the Nugent inquiry recommends that prosecution be considered for the awarding of contracts to global consultancy Bain & Co. There could also be further investigation into VAT fraud relating to over R420m paid to the Guptas as refunds and illegal settlements of tax bills for people like tobacco kingpin Adriano Mazzotti.
There are many more skeletons buried at Sars, all of which are likely to be exposed once the second layer of management, Moyane's acolytes, is dislodged. In order to stabilise the tax authority, rebuild its integrity and restore its operations to basic functionality, the loyalists who helped him destroy the institution have to be booted out.
Sars needs to refocus on its core purpose, the collection of tax, particularly corporate tax, rather than serving as a protection racket and money-laundering mechanism for criminal networks.
The big hazard for Moyane and his backers, however, is the restoration of the specialised investigations units at Sars. Since Moyane purged experienced staff and hollowed out the investigative capacity, Sars has been ineffective in tracking illicit flows of money and chasing down tax dodgers.
This has to be undone, and money that has been flowing illegally and unhindered to political and business high fliers must be tracked.
Sars investigators were pursuing a number of cases when the purge was executed. During Moyane's term, these investigations were killed off and corruption networks left untroubled.
The Guptas, for example, were able to move large sums of money they looted from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) out of the country, and bring in cash when their bank accounts were closed.
Those involved in fraud and corruption were emboldened by the paralysis at Sars and there was much more brazen fraud, as evidenced by the revelations on the VBS bank heist.
Now that Sars is finally free of the Moyane stranglehold, there is nothing standing in the way of old cases being reopened and new investigations starting into the illegal movement of money and deliberate tax avoidance.
Sars investigations are different to criminal probes. People have the right to remain silent and not incriminate themselves in criminal cases, but the legislation governing the tax authority makes it illegal not to answer questions or to withhold information from Sars.
The revenue service has the ability to get access to financial information, freeze funds and reach offshore.
The police and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have to rely on extradition and mutual legal assistance agreements to get access to information and people in other countries. But tax authorities have a direct relationship with each other and co-operation is automatic. Sars gets information on South African taxpayers in other parts of the world without having to request it.
Therefore, tracking money stolen from the state and SOEs will be easier and much more streamlined than the Hawks investigations - presuming the police are taking state capture cases seriously now, instead of sabotaging them.
Sars is able to hit criminals where it hurts and its preservation orders are easier to impose and more effective than those of the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
In the case of multimillionaire businessman Dave King, for example, Sars was able to obtain a worldwide preservation order, so it was not just in SA that he was squeezed.
It suited those deriving wealth through illicit means to have a weak Sars and someone they could control as the commissioner.
That time is over and the prospect of Sars bouncing back is making many people nervous, including those using illicit money to fund the fightback against Ramaphosa and anti-graft campaigners.
Like with the new NPA boss, Shamila Batohi, the new Sars commissioner will have an overflowing in-tray and will need true grit to get the job done.
Let's hope that 2019 is the year that Sars and the NPA get their mojo back...

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