Former SARS Commissioner Oupa Magashula. Picture : Neil Baynes. Former SARS Commissioner Oupa Magashula. Picture : Neil Baynes.
Durban - Controversial Mhlanga businessman Timmy Marimuthu has said he was trying to be a “good Samaritan” when he tried to help a fellow churchgoer land a plum job at Sars.
Marimuthu had made the job recommendation to Sars commissioner, Oupa Magashula, who resigned last week after the release of findings by a panel set up by the government to probe allegations of irregular staff recruitment processes at the tax agency.
“I have done nothing wrong,” Marimuthu said in response to reports about his “alleged influence” over Magashula.
The fact-finding inquiry had found that Marimuthu had not responded positively to a request for an interview to probe the allegations.
Marimuthu denied this week that he had not co-operated with the committee established by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
He said his lawyer, Rajen Naidoo, had sent a letter to the State attorney in response to the request for an interview on behalf of the evidence-gathering committee.
However, Treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane said the committee stood by its interpretation of the letter that Marimuthu had declined to come forward.
In March, City Press ran an article based on a recorded telephone conversation in which it claimed Magashula had offered a chartered accountant, Nosipho Mba, a R700 000-a-year job at Sars.
It had been reported that Marimuthu had set up Magashula.
Marimuthu is presently facing a tax probe by Sars.
Gordhan had appointed retired Constitutional Court judge Zak Yacoob and advocate Muzi Sikhakhane to probe the allegations, and Magashula resigned after the findings were released on July 12.
Among the findings were that Magashula had by his conduct placed the reputation and credibility of Sars at risk.
The committee was unable to probe the allegations concerning Marimuthu’s alleged influence over Magashula because Marimuthu could not be interviewed.
Marimuthu has denied wrongdoing and said the State attorney had failed to respond to his lawyer’s letter.
In April, the State attorney had asked Marimuthu:
- Whether he was aware of the recording, a transcript of which was also published in the City Press, and whether he would be willing to confirm it.
- Whether he would be willing to provide the full name and address of Mba and should he not be willing to provide this information, to explain why.
- whether he would agree to the committee looking at the status of his tax affairs and records held by Sars and if he was not willing to consent, whether he would admit there were tax investigations by Sars.
While Mba had e-mailed her CV to Magashula and was contacted by Sars for an interview, she had declined the job because she wanted a job in Durban and not Pretoria.
Daily News