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Cape Town - DA MP David Maynier vowed to submit a parliamentary question to get more information on a reported probe over alleged ''suspicious'' payments to a SARS officer, following a report in the Sunday Times.
He said the allegations were not new and had been raised with SA Revenue Service commissioner Tom Moyane during a standing committee on finance meeting in Parliament on 23 August this year.
''When questioned about the investigation, Tom Moyane was evasive and simply stated that he would not 'comment on current ongoing investigations'.
He added that all follow-up questions were referred to senior revenue service officials who were ''equally evasive'' and said they would not comment on current investigations.
''The burning questions in this case are: whether Tom Moyane acted on the recommendations of the preliminary report and requested an investigation into the allegations surrounding “suspicious and unusual payments”; and if an investigation is being conducted, why Jonas Makwakwa has not suspended, pending the outcome of the investigation, from SARS?'' said Maynier.
The Sunday Times reported that he was being investigated for R1.2m in deposits between 2010 and January 2016. Three payments totalling R450 200 to his girlfriend Kelly Ann Elskie, reportedly also a SARS employee, were also being probed.
A report compiled by a banking regulator was handed to SARS commissioner Tom Moyane.
Investigators reportedly traced the money back to a payment of R17.8m by the Department of Water and Sanitation in favour of a debt collection company called New Integrated Credit Solutions.
Comment was not immediately available from SARS spokesperson Sandile Memela.
Maynier said he would submit a parliamentary question to the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, to also ask whether the report was received and whether the recommended investigation was being conducted, and if was, why Makwakwa was not suspended.
