National Bain pays back the money over botched Sars work, but may face fraud charges BL PREMIUM

Bain & Company has paid the SA Revenue Services (Sars) back for its botched restructuring of the tax agency with interest amounting to R217m, according to the final report of the SARS Commission of Inquiry, chaired by retired judge Robert Nugent. Nugent, however, took a dim view of the move, highlighting how Bain had not been forthcoming with the commission, saying that full disclosure would help the South African public more than just repayment, which could be seen as "marketing". Bain's former partner, Vittorio Massone, has also resigned over the damning evidence of the consultancy's complicity in axed commissioner Tom Moyane's "seizure" of Sars was unearthed during the Nugent inquiry. Massone was not spared in the report — the commission found that he had lied under oath to the commission on a few occasions. He has been exposed as a shrewd operator who cynically used political connections to grow Bain's business.

This is not the end for the Boston-based consultancy with Nug...