Hon members should remember that there are indeed measures already in place that both regulate what Cabinet members can do and require them to disclose their assets and business interests: Firstly, Cabinet members and Deputy Ministers who are members of the National Assembly are required to disclose particulars of their financial interests, assets and gifts in terms of the Rules of Parliament. This also applies to Members of Parliament and their spouses or permanent companions and dependent children. I must add that the Ministers and Deputy Minister who are not members of Parliament have made a voluntary disclosure to Parliament in this regard.
Secondly, the executive ethics code requires all Cabinet members, in addition, to disclose their liabilities. This code also stipulates that a Minister must declare any financial or business interests that he or she may have in a matter that is before Cabinet, or in relation to which the Minister is required to take a decision as a Member of Cabinet. Where the Minister holds a business interest in a company that may give rise to a conflict of interest in the execution of his or her duty as a Member of Cabinet, he or she must either dispose of the interest or place the administration of the interest under the control of an independent person or agency. The same code stipulates that Ministers may not receive remuneration for any work or service other than for the performance of their functions as members of Cabinet.
With regard to monitoring compliance with these provisions, details of Ministers' assets are available on the parliamentary website along with those of all other Members of Parliament. Violations of the parliamentary code are dealt with by Parliament and have been dealt with effectively in the past. Complaints against violations of the executive ethics code can also be dealt with by the Public Protector.
Let me also remind hon members that the SA Revenue Service conducts investigations into people who appear to be living beyond their means. These investigations start on the basis of information obtained from various sources, including the Sars anticorruption and fraud hotline, income tax returns submitted by a taxpayer to Sars and reports of suspicious activity from members of the public. A lifestyle questionnaire is one method of obtaining information from a taxpayer and, together with other information sources, assists Sars in matching the lifestyle trends, income streams and asset base of a taxpayer to what has been declared in an income tax return. The accumulated wealth has to be explained by the taxpayer for tax purposes. Any unexplained wealth is taxed. The compliance and risk unit within Sars conducts the risk analysis of taxpayer information. If there is a mismatch between what the taxpayer has declared and what Sars has found, the case is referred to an audit.
If it is confirmed that the taxpayer has evaded tax, penalties are levied, interest is charged and additional tax of up to 200% of the evaded tax is charged. Depending on the circumstances, the case may then be handed to the criminal investigation division of Sars, which then engages the SA Police Service and a specialised tax unit for criminal prosecution within the National Prosecuting Authority. More than 10 000 such audits have been conducted by Sars over the past two years.
The Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act of 2003 also provides for an investigation into a person who appears to own property disproportionate to their income. This is in addition to strict Financial Intelligence Centre Act, Fica, requirements, which compel individuals to disclose sources of income when they make big financial transactions. In light of the above, Cabinet has not considered lifestyle audits, as it is clear that all these measures are already in place.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Corruption that the President referred to in his state of the nation address is considering ways in which to improve scrutiny and transparency in the awarding of state tenders. The committee is supported by multidisciplinary task teams on issues of government procurement. One team focuses on compliance in respect of tenders, while the other team focuses on systems improvement in respect of government supply chain management. The task teams comprise officials from the Department of National Treasury, the SA Police Service, Public Service and Administration, South African Revenue Service, the Auditor-General, the Financial Intelligence Centre and the Special Investigating Unit. Thank you. [Applause.]