The High Court in Pretoria has quashed parts of the third report, which implicates former SARS deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay.
Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Photo: Sethembiso Zulu/EWN
CAPE TOWN – Public defender Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been dealt another legal blow. The High Court in Pretoria has quashed parts of the third report, which implicates former SARS deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay.
He found the levy against him to be illegal and ordered it set aside. Pillay testified before Mkhwebane’s impeachment inquiry in Parliament on Friday.
The parliamentary impeachment inquiry examined three reports in which Mkhwebane made adverse findings against Pillay. He complained to the committee that Mkhwebane had blatantly ignored him during the investigation into the illegal appointment of a software supplier – Baja, Baron and Dominic Pty Ltd to SARS.
On Monday, his appeal was born when the High Court found that the Public Protector had failed to inform Pillay of the investigation. The court also found that he was not afforded the right to be heard in the penalty measure taken against him.
Both of these are violations of the Public Protection Act.
In two previous reports dismissed by the court, Mkhwebane made adverse findings against Pillay regarding his pension payments following his early retirement from SARS and his appointment as deputy commissioner. Pillay was also implicated in a report on the creation of an alleged rogue investigative unit in the revenue service.
On Monday, the court made another costs order in this latest case.
