Cape Town – The Hawks insisted on Monday that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s lawyers had confirmed receipt of a letter giving the Treasury chief a new deadline to answer questions on the so-called rogue unit within the South African Revenue Service.
Gordhan in a statement on Sunday angrily denied that he or his lawyers had received a missive that was reportedly sent to him on Saturday and gave him until Monday to respond to the elite unit’s 27 questions.
The minister suggested that this would mean that a letter had been leaked to the media without being served upon him.
“I am very surprised to read the misleading headlines and content of the articles in some of the Independent Newspapers titles,” Gordhan said in his statement.
“Once again the Hawks, and those who instruct them, have no regard for the economic and social welfare of millions. My attorneys have confirmed to me that no other letter has been received by their office until close of business Friday 11 March, nor by email. I can also confirm that I am unaware of any ‘new’ letter.”
Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told ANA the letter was sent to the minister’s legal representative, Tebogo Malatji, on March 3.
“The letter was sent to his lawyers on the 3rd of March. We can’t say why he says he did not receive it, the lawyers signed for it,” he added.
Mulaudzi confirmed that the minister had been given a deadline to answer the Hawks’s questions and said he was not sure how it would deal with him missing it.
“That is a matter for the national head to decide,” he said.
Gordhan has been involved in a public stand-off with the Hawks since it emerged that, days before he delivered the 2016 budget, the unit sent him a list of questions about the intelligence gathering unit that was established within SARS while he was the commissioner of the revenue service.
He asked for more time to respond, and also demanded that the unit explain on what authority it was communicating with him. The letter had wider political impact in that ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe termed it an attempt to undermine the trusted minister, while President Jacob Zuma rapidly shot back that this was far-fetched.
It also prompted Gordhan to confirm that his relationship with SARS commissioner Tom Moyane, who insists that there had been illicit information gathering by the revenue service, was hostile.
African News Agency
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