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Johannesburg - Nine people appeared before the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Wednesday for alleged tender fraud of more than R11m, the National Prosecuting Authority said.
"They are all facing charges of fraud, money laundering, racketeering and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act after being arrested yesterday," said spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga.
The accused are Mandisa Mokwena, Emilie kinfack Djoumessi, Nancy Ashuma Akinboade, Maria Notshi Phake, Mankwane Daisy Makofane, Buti Baloyi, Bernard Mokwena, Oludele Akinloye Akinboade and Kenny Boshego.
Mokwena is a former deputy commissioner for the SA Revenue Service (Sars) who resigned a year ago. Some of the others are academics at the University of South Africa.
The alleged offences were committed between September 2007 and May 2009 and relate to procurement irregularities involving individuals attached to the Sars research division, Mhaga said.
"It is alleged that some Sars officials and service providers colluded in defrauding Sars in about 45 transactions to the amount of over R11m."
He said service providers were contracted by Sars to provide research and training and that all these service providers were allegedly associates, friends and former academic acquaintances of Mokwena.
"In essence the accused allegedly circumvented Sars supply chain management and procurement procedures to ensure that several contracts were awarded to service providers associated with them."
The accused were arrested after a joint investigation by the Sars anti-corruption unit, the police and the NPA.
They were given bail ranging between R10 000 and R30 000 and their case was postponed to February 24 for further investigation.
