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Pretoria – Former top South African Revenue Service (SARS) official Mandisa Mokwena, who was a former business partner of First Lady Thobeka Zuma, has been exonerated of all charges related to a corrupt enterprise aimed at obtaining tenders illegally.
Mokwena, who headed SARS’ risk management division before being appointed as group executive of the segmentation and research division, was charged with corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering.
The charges relate to her role in ensuring SARS training and research tenders were awarded to her former supervisor at Unisa and his wife during September 2007 and July 2009, in her capacity as the head of SARS’ risk management division.
A judgment by the North Gauteng High Court handed down on Tuesday by Judge Sulet Potterill found Mokwena not guilty on all the charges leveled against her.
Some of her co-accused – including former director of the School of Economic Sciences at Unisa, Oludele Akinboade, his wife Ashuma, Emilie Djoumessi, and Professor Agyapong Gyekye (dean of the School of Management Services at Venda University) – were found guilty on counts of fraud and racketeering.
Akinboade…
