Tax offenders had collectively been sentenced to 84 years of imprisonment in the last financial year, says South African Revenue Services (Sars) commissioner Pravin Gordhan.
Addressing members of Parliament serving on the ad hoc finance portfolio and select committees, Gordhan on Wednesday said there had been 1 558 convictions and fines amounting to R4,5-million. Suspended imprisonment had amounted to 107 years collectively.
Altogether R39,5-million had been repaid to Sars.
Gordhan said a new function for Sars since the September 2001 terror attacks in the US was “the security of our people” through its Customs & Excise division. “On the customs side our responsibility is to protect the South African economy and facilitate trade and collect money.”
“But importantly a new function since the 9/11 events took place is also the security of our people. The whole container security initiative is about ensuring that weapons of mass destruction don’t get into any country.”
“Customs five years ago had nearly 800 staff, in the past three years we have increased this to 2 400 and our focus now is to not only to fulfill the mandate but also train our staff.”
He noted that South Africa signed a bilateral agreement with US customs last year in terms of South Africa’s container security initiative “which means that Durban and other ports and exports leaving those ports have less chance of being stopped and interfered with when they enter the United States.” – I-Net Bridge