‘Probe into Sars rogue unit aimed Gordhan’

In his new book Johann van Loggerenberg, the former head of the Sars elite crime-busting unit, says the public is being misled about the saga.

Johannesburg - Johann van Loggerenberg, who headed an SA Revenue Service unit alleged to have been a “rogue” operation, has written a book about it and argues that the public has been misled.

The following is an extract from Rogue: The Inside Story of SARS’s Elite Crime-busting Unit, written with former Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay:

What none of us had realised initially, but would start to understand as things unfolded over time, was that the campaign against us was apparently also aimed at Pravin Gordhan, or PG, as some liked to call him. After the 2014 general elections, Gordhan was replaced by (Nhlanhla) Nene as finance minister and appointed minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.

The first indications that PG was also being targeted became evident in media reports from November 2014. Whereas the Sunday Times articles had initially published photos only of me, and later of Ivan Pillay, former deputy commissioner of Sars, and group executive Peter Richer, from this point onwards they also started including photos of Gordhan and, in some instances, Trevor Manuel.

These articles about the rogue unit’ seldom referred to them directly, except to portray them as part of the hierarchy of the management structure at SARS or the Treasury.

The first direct allegation against Gordhan, however, came on February 2, 2015 - the month I resigned - during an interview with SARS spokesman Luther Lebelo by 702 Radio talk show host John Robbie. Pretoria-based attorney Belinda Walter (with whom Van Loggerenberg had had a short relationship) called the station and went live on air.

She alleged the unit “was a very small element within Sars and it was hidden; they didn’t operate within Sars offices and 90 percent of Sars employees weren’t aware of it; I cannot speak about Trevor Manuel; in documents I have seen Pravin Gordhan was definitely aware of it.”

Robbie asked her, “And this unit was definitely illegal? And he would have known it was illegal?”

“Yes,” she answered.

In May 2015, Gordhan deemed it necessary to issue a media release “to set the record straight” because, the statement said, “some have seen it necessary to cast unwarranted aspersions on my integrity and record of public service. This is unacceptable and must not go unchallenged. At the outset let me state that I have never approved, as commissioner of Sars, of any illegal activities. The establishment of an additional unit within the enforcement division was entirely legal. Any suggestion to the contrary is rejected emphatically. It is, in fact, during my stint at Sars that a whole range of institutional checks and balances were set up to ensure that no individual had unfettered powers and discretion in applying the law.”

By May 2015 most of the top management of Sars, who had served the institution for many years, were gone. The previous month, Ivan’s special adviser, Yolisa Pikie, resigned and shortly afterwards the deputy SARS spokeswoman, Marika Muller, followed.

It was suggested that my manager, Gene Ravele, the chief officer: tax and customs enforcement, had also handed in a resignation letter in April 2015, but he was purportedly persuaded by Moyane not to. In the end, Ravele, a chief human resources officer, Elizabeth Khumalo, the group executive: tax and customs enforcement, Godfrey Baloyi, and Brian Kgomo, group executive: internal audit, who served on the first panel (headed by lawyer Moeti Kanyane), would leave SARS during the year. They were part of the group of 55 senior officials who left over 19 months following Moyane’s appointment in October 2014.

Pillay and Richer resigned at the beginning of May “after a protracted and acrimonious disciplinary process”, according to City Press. Shortly before his resignation, nine more charges were added to Pillay’s disciplinary hearing charge sheet. In light of the claims that the unit had acquired and used all sorts of sophisticated spyware, I found it ironic that Ivan was also being charged for not providing the unit with sufficient resources, such as laptops and cellphones.

His hearing was set to start later that month. Lebelo is quoted as saying that the “parting of ways was amicable” and that “all charges and related investigations” against Pillay and Richer had been withdrawn.

But, just days afterwards, the Sunday Times ran a story with the headline Pillay faces criminal charges after SARS spies’ explosive confession’.

The article relates to events that allegedly took place in 2007 and were referred to as Project Sunday Evenings. Significantly, the Sunday Times claimed to have seen two affidavits by SARS officials, supposedly dated 14 May 2015, three days before the story was published.

I can prove that no such affidavits existed then. I can only wonder what exactly it is that they saw, who showed them these “affidavits” and how they determined their authenticity. Without unpacking this particular Sunday Times article, I can only conclude that there were still forces out there who were determined to completely discredit us.

Almost a year later City Press revealed that, just days after Pillay and Richer had left SARS, Moyane registered a case with the police against Pillay, Gordhan and other former SARS officials. Apparently, Moyane had told the police the alleged crime was committed at Sars’s Nieuw Muckleneuk headquarters after 4 May, 2007. So much for an “amicable” parting of ways.

The Sunday Independent