Tuesday 14 June, 2022 – Tax Justice SA (TJSA) is today urging Government to impose emergency sanctions to halt transnational organised crime groups stripping South Africa’s assets and infrastructure.
Launching the Fightback Charter 2022, TJSA founder Yusuf Abramjee said: “South Africa is under attack. Industrialised theft has become entrenched across multiple layers of society and billions of rand is being looted from our country and siphoned into foreign havens.
“Criminal perpetrators embedded at the very highest level are colluding with sophisticated syndicates operating across southern Africa and the wider region.
“The construction mafia, the illicit cigarette barons, criminal politicians, the gold, coal and diesel syndicates and crooked cops are among the battalions of bad actors amassing vast personal fortunes by looting our national resources. This is transnational organised crime on the grandest scale and only immediate emergency sanctions can stop it.”
The Fightback Charter 2022 calls for the following sanctions against those suspected of transnational organised crime:
- Seize and swiftly liquidate all assets belonging to suspects
- Impose an immediate travel ban on all suspects within South Africa
- Penalise banks and other financial institutions that continue to conduct business with suspects
- Seek Interpol red notices against all suspects overseas
“According to SARS, more than R100 billion a year is being drained from the country’s coffers via illegal trade, corruption and other illicit financial flows,” said Abramjee. “That money belongs to the South African people and is meant to build a better future for all.
“Transnational crimelords are stripping South Africa like hyenas ripping at a carcass. They will not stop till only a rotting husk remains.
“The Fightback Charter will choke these predators and halt their feeding frenzy. To protect our nation and its citizens, Government must adopt the Charter today.”
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