'Ashamed' Bain fails to connect with SA tax authority

Bain & Co says it is ‘ashamed’ of its role in destabilising SA’s tax agency but SA Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Edward Kieswetter has slammed the company for failing to ‘reach out’ to it. ‘Interesting that ?@BainAlerts? would take out a full page advert to say sorry for “serious mistakes” at SARS, instead of just contacting us at ?@sarstax? and talk to us,’ Kieswetter tweeted on Friday. This after Stephen York, Bain’s managing partner in SA, issued a public apology over the debacle. The UK banned the group from bidding for state contracts because of its links to corruption. And Ismail Momoniat, the acting DG of the Treasury, last week called for a halt to business with Bain and urged SA Government institutions to investigate it. Fin24 reports that Bain was found by the country’s judicial commission to have had ties to illegal dealings during work restructuring SARS, where senior staff were ousted and the institution’s investigative capacity was gutted. ‘We apologise to you,’ York said in the advertisement that has appeared in various publications. ‘Bain made serious mistakes in the procurement and execution of our work at SARS.’ Bain is one of several international companies that have acknowledged playing a role in misconduct at state companies during Jacob Zuma’s presidency.