TUESDAY, 10.30AM:
A former employee of mining group Gencor is being sued by his erstwhile employer for breach of contract after he allegedly worked as an informer for the Receiver of Revenue, for which he apparently received R600 000.
In court papers, Gencor alleges that former tax manager Paul O’Donoghue was a paid informer for the receiver and Senwits, a levy collector for the greater Johannesburg transitional metropolitan council in 1995.
Gencor has already won an interdict freezing a bank account held by O’Donoghue, but the Johannesburg High Court on Monday dismissed an application by Gencor to sue the three trustees of a trust account into which the R600 000 was allegedly deposited. The court gave Gencor 21 days to resubmit the application.
Outlining Gencor’s allegations, Judge JA Heher said O’Donoghue approached the receiver to “solicit for himself rewards”. These were paid based on a percentage of Gencor’s tax and VAT payments made on the advice of O’Donoghue.
The judge added: “O’Donoghue deliberately placed himslef in a position in which his interest conflicted with his duty to Gencor, his intention having been from the outset of his employment to act as a paid informer.”