SARS vows to crack tender tampering plot

Johannesburg, 07 Oct 2003

The South African Revenue Services (SARS) yesterday announced that it has had to cancel a R100 million tender for the supply of desktop hardware following further evidence of tampering in the process.

SARS announced last week that one of the bidders had reported a corruption attempt to the corruption hotline. The bidder had been approached by an outside agency offering to sway the outcome of the tendering process in its favour. Since the initial announcement, a number of other bidders have come forward with further evidence of corruption.

"We found that at least one agency was attempting to collect on a commission of 2.5% from any company that would work with the agency," said Pravin Gordhan, SARS commissioner, during yesterday's announcement in Pretoria. "After the announcement of the tampering, several staff members on the SARS side who were trying to maintain the integrity of the process found themselves under threat."

He revealed that the threats took the form of oblique promises to "deal with" the staff members. Gordhan also spoke scathingly of the desktop segment of the local IT industry. "There are certain sections of the IT industry that will stop at nothing," he said. "A number of companies, particularly involved in this sector of IT industry, habitually carry out violations of customs and tax laws. On one hand, they want to obtain money and get work out of SARS, but on the other hand, do not want to pay taxes or customs."

He gave the assurance that an ongoing investigation involving the South African Police Services is under way into the industry segment in general and this incident of corruption in particular. "We will find the mole," he said.

While the tendering process is being restarted, there will only be a few weeks delay in the supply of desktop equipment. "The tendering process was for the supply of upgrades, and there are currently machines up and running, serving you as we speak," said Gordhan.

He concluded with a firm line on corruption: "With a R2 billion procurement budget, we are not a small player. Businesses should realise that if they want to do business with SARS, or with government in general, that they have to get their acts together. We reiterate all the time that integrity is of the utmost importance and if people want business from us, they will have to become our partners against corruption."

A hotline number (0800 20 37 66) has been dedicated for anybody who would like to report information pertaining to this tender process. The general SARS anti-corruption line remains 0800 00 28 70.