SARS says no record of Phala Phala dollars entering SA
The South African Revenue Service has confirmed it was unable to find any record of the money brought into the country by Sundanese businessman Hazim Mustafa.
Mustafa brought a large amount of money into the country in December 2019, and later paid $580 000 in cash to President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm as a payment for cattle.
The revelation follows a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request by DA leader John Steenhuisen.
“The SARS Information Officer, after an extensive search for the record in various SARS Passenger Processing Systems, and engagements with the relevant business units within SARS which he believed may be in custody of and/ or be in possession of and/or have knowledge of the records requested, was advised that the record could not be found and /or may not be in existence,” the tax authority said in a statement on Monday.
Steenhuisen says this proves the money was never declared to SARS.
“The Democratic Alliance can today reveal that the US dollars hidden inside a couch on the Phala Phala farm of President Cyril Ramaphosa were not declared to the South African Revenue Services upon entering South Africa. The DA obtained this information directly from SARS following a request submitted in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.”
During media interviews, Mustafa claimed that he had complied with the requirement to declare the money to SARS officials at OR Tambo International Airport upon entering South Africa.
Steenhuisen says it is now impossible to believe that it was a legitimate business deal.
“The response by SARS means that we now know that the President of South Africa had hidden dirty dollars, which had entered the country illegally, inside a couch on his game farm. It renders Ramaphosa's claim that these funds were merely the proceeds of a business transaction impossible to believe, because legitimate business transactions are usually not hidden from SARS inside a couch.”
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