By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended SA Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Edward Kieswetter’s term for another two more years.
The presidency announced an agreement had been reached between Ramaphosa and Kieswetter “to enable an orderly leadership transition in the organisation”.
Kieswetter was appointed in March 2019 for a five-year term which started in May 2019.
“Kieswetter will continue leading the execution of the strategic direction of the revenue service while ensuring a smooth leadership transition,” the presidency said.
Kieswetter had a daunting task, given the need to rebuild the institution after the destructive reign of former commissioner Tom Moyane, which culminated in a R142-billion hole in revenue collection over the previous years. The need to restore Sars capacity was critical to stabilise government finances.
The process to appoint the commissioner was based on recommendations by the commission of inquiry into administration and governance at Sars headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Robert Nugent.
Meanwhile Sasfin Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sasfin Holdings, has been served a civil summons for R4.87 billion plus interests and costs in the form of damages claim from SARS.
The summons was received on 9 January 2024 and followed SARS’ inability to collect income tax VAT and penalties allegedly owed by former foreign exchange clients.
“Former foreign exchange clients of the Bank operated as a syndicate that ran an unlawful scheme to facilitate the expatriation of money out of South Africa and colluded with former employees of the Bank who operated outside the scope of their employment,” the group said.
“The Bank took decisive action when it became aware of this unlawful scheme, including instituting an expanded investigation led by an independent forensic consultancy. This resulted in the termination of relationships with the implicated clients and employees and the opening of criminal cases against them.”
After receiving the summons, the Bank obtained a legal opinion from ENS, which stated that the claim falls outside of the recognised parameters of applicable law and has a small chance of success.