Johannesburg - Former SA Revenue Services (Sars) official Johann van Loggerenberg says "the right thing" has been done following the North Gauteng High Court judgment which reviewed and set aside an Inspector-General of Intelligence report which had found the existence of a "rogue unit" at Sars.
Van Loggerenberg said he commends the Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo and the Inspector General of Intelligence Setlhomamaru Dintwe for "doing the right thing" and settling the court case seeking to set aside the 2014 IG report. The report was titled; "Report on the investigations into media allegations against the Special Operations Unit or branches of the State Security Agency"
The report was released in 2014 and had found that a rogue unit existed at Sars and found against former Sars commissioner Pravin Gordhan, van Loggerenberg and Ivan Pillay in setting up the unit illegally. It recommended that criminal charges be laid against those implicated in the report.
Van Loggerenberg sought to have the report set aside and deemed unlawful after it was provisionally released, in a redacted form, to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane in November 2019. He applied to the High Court in December 2019. The minister of state security and the IGI had sought to oppose the application.
But both the minister and the IGI later decided to settle the matter with van Loggerenberg which resulted in Monday's court judgment that agreed to set aside the report.
Van Loggerenberg, through his legal team, said on Tuesday that he now seeks justice to prevail and for all those who were behind smear campaigns and "rogue unit propaganda" to be investigated and prosecuted.
"Our client calls upon the South African Police Service, Detective and Crime Intelligence divisions, Sars, Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigations, State Security Agency, IGI and National Prosecuting Authority ("NPA") to immediately act against those (current and former) employees (and operatives), as well as their co-conspirators in the media and private security companies and the tobacco industry, that our client (and others) substantively and directly implicated in very serious criminal offences and the advancement of rogue activities that undermined SARS, its staff, investigations and audits.
"This naturally includes all past and current staff and contractors that continued to prevent the truth from surfacing, suppressed evidence of criminality, defeated the ends of justice and advanced the bogus "rogue unit" propaganda," van Loggerenberg's legal team Werksmans said.
"Our client further calls upon those implicated and involved, to the extent that they have any conscience, and those that may have been misled and duped to play along to advance the State Capture of Sars and further other nefarious political agendas, to contact the relevant authorities immediately. The entire country has suffered as a result of the bogus "rogue unit" propaganda."
Van Loggerenberg said he also wants to see the matter of the "rogue unit" being put to rest by Sars as it could be brought up at every opportunity by people with suspicious agendas.
"Our client further calls upon the commissioner for the Sars to act in a manner that will ultimately put the entire nightmare to bed once and for all, since the matter will continuously be abused and brought up whenever it suits some or other nefarious agenda or motive to the detriment of the institution, its staff and the fiscus. Our client has instructed us to urgently engage with the Sars, and any other relevant parties, with a view to seek closure on any outstanding matters in this regard."