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Ex-South African Tax Officials Face Charges Based on KPMG Probe

Ex-South African Tax Officials Face Charges Based on KPMG Probe

(Bloomberg) -- Three former employees of South Africa’s tax agency said the police’s Hawks investigative unit summoned them to appear in court next month to face charges based on a discredited report compiled by audit firm KPMG that was subsequently withdrawn.

Ivan Pillay, Johann van Loggerenberg and Andries Janse van Rensburg “emphatically deny the allegations” and will make representations to the National Prosecuting Authority to review the case, their lawyers said in an e-mailed statement. The Pretoria High Court is due to hear the case on April 9.

The KPMG report was used as evidence in a criminal investigations into the conduct of Pravin Gordhan, who was accused on setting up a rogue investigative unit during his tenure as head of the tax agency. The case against Gordhan, who subsequently became the country’s finance minister and is now public enterprises minister, was scrapped due to a lack of evidence.

NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone, while calls to Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi didn’t connect.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro

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