Durban - Tax Justice SA (TJSA) has warned that ministers must heed demands by crime-fighting agencies for more tools to investigate unexplained wealth if South Africa has any hope of stopping the ‘industrial-scale looting’ of the country.
TJSA noted that South African Revenue Service Commissioner (SARS) Edward Kieswetter, was leading calls from corruption busters for new legislation to help combat tax crimes, illicit financial flows, money laundering and terror financing.
The organisation said the state was being robbed of an estimated R100 billion a year through these crimes.
Yusuf Abramjee, the founder of TJSA, said sophisticated criminal syndicates were stripping the country of its assets and infrastructure, while enforcement agencies appeared powerless to stop them.
“They are siphoning billions offshore while ordinary South Africans are starving. This is transnational organised crime on the grandest scale and enforcement agencies must be empowered to stop it,” he said.
Abramjee said TJSA has launched its FightBack Charter 2022 calling for a range of emergency sanctions against transnational organised crime groups.
Measures include swifter seizure of suspects’ assets, as well as penalties for banks and other financial institutions that conduct business with them.
Abramjee said it was shocking that SARS had identified 26 000 individuals last year who were spending in excess of R1 million each, but still hadn’t registered as taxpayers.
He added that companies brazenly flood the country with illicit goods that are offered openly for sale in our shops despite robbing the fiscus of billions of rand in vital revenue.
“Every South African is a victim of these crime lords who live in luxury while honest citizens are denied decent education, healthcare and shelter.
“SARS and other agencies like the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) must be given the tools to fight these enemies of the state and the justice system should be equipped to halt their acts of treason,” said Abramjee.