While a financial novice in a smart suit mouthed away in Parliament yesterday, I couldn’t help thinking how some multinationals will be licking their lips at the easy pickings now available in South Africa.
Global companies have been feeling the heat over transfer pricing, a practice where accountants shift profits across borders to reduce tax. These are complex machinations and exceedingly difficult for the authorities to prove malfeasance. Combatting the scourge has required considerable up-skilling by governments desperate to claw back billions lost by their Treasuries.
As an erstwhile Commissioner at SARS, former SA finance minister Pravin Gordhan had experience dealing with these practices and enjoyed some notable successes in pursuing miscreants. Judged on yesterday’s confused message, his successor will be easily bamboozled by sophisticated corporate felons.
If you thought education was expensive, try ignorance.
