TAX Justice South Africa has lauded the court ruling to allow the South African Revenue Services (Sars) to monitor tobacco warehouses via CCTV to smoke out illicit cigarette kingpins
The ruling was handed down by the Gauteng High Court on Friday, 29 December. This after it dismissed an urgent application by the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association and numerous other tobacco manufacturers who were against Sars' decision to install CCTV cameras.
The founder of Tax Justice SA, Yusuf Abramjee said the installation of these CCTV cameras in tobacco warehouses was the first step in smoking out illicit cigarette kingpins robbing Mzansi of billions.
“This is a vital breakthrough against the illicit tobacco barons who are robbing Mzansi of over R27 billion a year by flooding the market with tax-evading cigarettes.
“For too long, these criminals have been able to flout the laws and hide their industrial-scale looting from Sars.
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“Now authorities must ensure regulations are properly enforced to halt the crippling theft of vital revenue that should be building a better South Africa for all,” Abramjee said.
In November, the police intercepted a truck loaded with illicit cigarettes worth R22 million in the Western Cape. Two suspects were arrested at the scene.
While in the Northern Cape, a storage container facility was raided and R10 million worth of illicit cigarettes were also seized.
This was according to Police Minister Bheki Cele as he gave an update on how law enforcement had upscaled responses to crime during the festive season.
According to Abramjee, South Africa’s illicit cigarette trade is a key component of money laundering and other organised crime.
“The kingpins are brazenly siphoning billions of rand in dirty money to offshore havens by utilising high-level accomplices and exploiting weaknesses in our enforcement agencies, which were hollowed out by years of state capture.
“To rebuild our country, our investigators and prosecutors must be properly equipped to implement the rule of law.”
Abramjee urged Sars to cancel the licences and seize the products of companies that refuse to comply with the CCTV ruling.
