Sars 'rogue unit' saga is about to get interesting

16 September 2016

Johannesburg - The saga around the Sars “rogue unit”, which has led in part to the recent clash between Minister Pravin Gordhan and the Hawks, is about to get a lot more interesting.

Exclusive Books announced on its website on Friday that it is due to stock a book written by Johann van Loggerenberg, who was head of the investigating unit, and former Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay.

It is called Rogue: The Inside Story of SARS's Elite Crime-busting Unit . Published by Jonathan Ball, it will go on sale next week.

“Rogue is an exposé of national importance that identifies the dark forces at play in politics and the business world,” the cover reads. “It provides clarity to a saga that has left us asking ‘Who can we trust?’”

The book is an inside view of the “rogue unit”. It became part of public discourse after the Sunday Times began reporting on it in 2014.  According to the reports, the unit spied on President Jacob Zuma and ran a brothel.

Revelations

“In a plot of Machiavellian proportions, head of the elite crime-busting unit Johann van Loggerenberg and many of Sars’ top management were forced to resign.

“Van Loggerenberg's select team of investigators, with their impeccable track record of busting high-level financial fraudsters and nailing tax criminals, lost not only their careers, but also their reputations,” the book's cover reveals.

The book promises to put the record straight that there was no rogue unit, and that a higher power was conspiring to capture Sars for its own ends.

It will reveal the details of some of the unit’s investigations.

In his 16 years at Sars, Van Loggerenberg investigated Billy Rautenbach, Irvin Khoza, Julius Malema, Lolly Jackson, Glenn Agliotti, and Radovan Krejcir.

Exclusive Books Group CEO Benjamin Trisk said that every so often a book came along that made booksellers believe they were serving their community.

“We are proud to sell it, proud to stand by its disclosures and convinced that it will have a significant impact on our national discourse,” Trisk said.

He said Rogue presents an alarming picture of how a national institution failed the country and shines an unnerving light on intelligence structures.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.