TimesLIVE reports that two former SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs auditors will spend three years in jail for attempting to solicit a bribe from a prominent KwaZulu-Natal businessman "to make his tax problems disappear".  

Pranesh Maharaj and Reuben Moodley were both caught red-handed with cash bribes of R100,000 in brown envelopes during a police operation in March last year.  The two men, who both resigned from Sars during a disciplinary hearing last year, were sentenced in the Durban Regional Court on Thursday last week.  The court also sentenced them to an additional two years' imprisonment, conditionally suspended for five years.  In a sting operation, the businessman provided the cash, which was divided into two envelopes, each containing R100,000.  Police pounced on the duo after the businessman handed them the envelopes in the parking lot of a bank.  Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter welcomed the sentence, saying:  "We have a zero tolerance for dishonesty and unlawfulness.”

• Read the full original of Suthentira Govender’s report on this story at TimesLIVE

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