Senior official in charge of Malema, Mpisane high-profile tax cases exits Sars

Van Esch's resignation comes in the wake of Moyane saying Sars is not losing experienced officials, calling this a 'myth'.

Amid the strained working relationship between feuding Sars commissioner Tom Moyane and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, a senior audit manager who handled high-level priority tax cases has resigned.

According to News 24, Lorraine van Esch held 20 years’ experience working for Sars and was responsible for issuing and handling tax audits on some of the largest cases amounting to R3 billion related to tax fraud, including those of Julius Malema, Shauwn Mpisane and the Prasa tax audit.

Van Esch served her notice period and left Sars on Tuesday.

News24 reports: “Part of the reason Van Esch resigned is that managers at the Enforcement Audit Unit wanted auditors to do smaller, more limited-scope audits, and to reduce the complex audits, some of which she was doing.”

Van Esch’s resignation comes after Moyane stated that Sars was not losing experienced officials, calling that a “myth”. Moyane and Gordhan have locked horns over Moyane’s management of the agency, with the tax commissioner going as far as to solicit the assistance of President Jacob Zuma.

According to reports, Gordhan has been unimpressed with the mass exodus of top officials and has berated Moyane for lack of communication after he refused to apply for leave as a regular employee and for coming to meetings unprepared to deal with serious queries from National Treasury.

According to News24, former Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay testified that, after Moyane was appointed as commissioner, he began suspending senior Sars officials, as well as the executive committee.

Lackay said that, between September 2014 and March 2015, 55 senior managers left Sars, including deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay and chief operating officer Barry Hore.

Moyane has slammed Gordhan for treating him like a child, insisting the minister did not respect him and had ridiculed him by refusing to shake his hand on two occasions. During a press conference, Moyane expanded on his tense relationship with Gordhan.