South Africa, JOHANNESBURG – Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday has also issued a punitive costs order against Busisiwe Mkwebane and described her conduct in the matter as “egregious”.
The court has found Mkwebane relied on discredited information while compiling her report, showing bias towards Gordhan and also Ivan Pillay.
The Public Protector’s report into the so-called Sars “rogue unit” has been set aside by the Court.
In the now-discredited report, the Public Protector had found that Gordhan misled Parliament during his tenure as Sars commissioner by failing to disclose a meeting he had with the Guptas.
She also stated that he violated intelligence laws by overseeing the establishment of “an intelligence unit” at Sars 13 years ago – now known as the “rogue unit”.
Mkhwebane had recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa should take action against Gordhan.
The unit was called the High Risk Investigations Unit, and was alleged to have carried out rogue operations, such as bugging the National Prosecuting Authority’s offices. The unit was set up to investigate high-profile tax offenders.
in her report, Mkhwebane said Sars didn’t follow proper procurement processes when it procured equipment for the unit, and added that she even had evidence that the unit unlawfully intercepted communications in 2007.
EWN
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