SARS to challenge Masters ruling on its Kebble claim
The SARS is to challenge a decision by the Master of the High Court to turn down a R183m claim it filed against the estate of slain mining magnate Brett Kebble.
A Business Times report says the Masters ruling was handed down in November last year during an in camera hearing in Cape Town. It says SARS claim was rejected on the grounds that the taxman cannot claim tax on stolen money. Kebble stole more than R2bn from his former mining companies, JCI and Randgold & Exploration. SARS intention is to take the Masters decision on review in the next two months, says SARS spokesperson Adrian Lackay. In the review papers, SARS claims that the Masters Office acted beyond its powers when rejecting its claim against Kebbles estate. SARS also accused Christa Vermaak, Assistant Master of the High Court who presided over the hearings, for acting in a biased manner. Vermaak is standing by her ruling. In her ruling, she lashed out at SARS for submitting incorrect and inconsistent information about Kebbles tax affairs. She found that SARS had failed to do a proper tax assessment of Kebbles financial affairs. Full Business Times report