Sars: No request for Malema audit

Johannesburg - The SA Revenue Service has not received any requests for a tax audit of ANCYL leader Julius Malema, its spokesman said on Tuesday.

"By the close of business yesterday [Monday], we hadn't received anything," said Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay.

"If we receive a request for an investigation, obviously we will consider it and establish the merits in the claims that the MP will make, and then we will proceed from there."

Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said at the weekend that she would write a letter to Sars requesting that Malema be investigated.

This was after the Sunday Independent reported that Malema was building a R16m mansion in Sandown, Johannesburg, while earning a salary of R25 000 per month.

The house would include a secure basement from where he could hide in case of an attack on him.

Malema told The Star newspaper in a report on Tuesday that he would co-operate if Sars decided to probe him.

"Sars conducts lifestyle [audits] on anybody as and when they wish to do that," he told the daily.

But he did not want to comment on the reports that he was planning to build himself a bunker.

"My life and what I do with my house is not a public issue. I am not a public representative," Malema reportedly said.