SARS threatens to disclose Montana’s confidential information
In a rare move, SARS has threatened to disclose the normally confidential tax information of Lucky Montana to disprove the fraud allegations he has made against the tax agency, reports News24.
Montana served as the CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) between 2010 and 2015, one of the main sites of state capture during the Presidency of Jacob Zuma.
He is now a member of Parliament for the MKP.
His dispute with SARS relates to his personal tax affairs. Montana claimed that he had opened a case of fraud against SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter on Monday, alleging that the commissioner and SARS officials had doctored a fake court judgment on which a SARS sequestration application was based.
He told IoL that he had learnt that his outstanding tax bill was R55m.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, SARS gave Montana 24 hours to withdraw his comments. After that time, it said it would be compelled to release his taxpayer information to disprove his allegations.
‘SARS emphatically denies using “fraudulently doctored court judgments to justify hefty tax bills”,’ it said.
SARS says that to collect outstanding tax, it sometimes files a certified statement to the court to secure a warrant of execution to recover the debts.
It added: ‘It has become commonplace among some who have to face the consequences of their own actions, to try to obfuscate, distract, attack and use delay tactics by abusing formal complaints, oversight and investigative mechanisms and processes, and by lodging false allegations and fake and unsubstantiated complaints.'
According to News24, SARS stated that only the NPA can charge SARS or any of its officials.
SARS said it was empowered by section 67(5) of the Tax Administration Act to disclose taxpayer information that would normally be treated as confidential, to dispel false allegations made against it and its processes.
SARS said that it had notified Montana about it.
In response, Montana said in a written statement yesterday that he believed Kieswetter would be abusing his powers if he disclosed his tax information without ‘due legal process’ and said that he would not be threatened.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
