Finance minister Pravin Gordhan said that he had done nothing wrong by authorising the establishment of a special investigative unit when he headed the national tax agency and he wouldn’t obey a police instruction to present himself for questioning.
A special police investigative unit known as the Hawks told Gordhan in a letter on 21 August to report to its offices on Thursday. Gordhan won’t be available and the instruction to appear runs counter to previous assurances from the police that he was not a suspect in its investigations, his lawyer, Tebogo Malatji, said in a letter to the Hawks.
Suggestions that Gordhan may have acted illegally in setting up the tax agency unit are “wholly unfounded”, Malatji said in the letter, which was dated Tuesday and distributed by the national treasury. “If you require further information, you are welcome to approach us again, because the minister has instructed us to assist wherever we can.”
Gordhan, 67, was named finance minister in December after President Jacob Zuma roiled markets by firing Nhlanhla Nene from the position and replacing him with a little-known lawmaker.
Zuma has since denied his requests to fire the nation’s tax chief for insubordination and appoint a new board at the state-owned airline.
Fears that Gordhan may lose his job drove the rand to its lowest level in three weeks on Wednesday. — (c) 2016 Bloomberg LP