Pretoria 12 Oct (ANA) - South Africa's Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has received a summons to appear in court on charges of fraud. It relates to allegations of misconduct when he was in charge of the country's tax collection service a decade ago. Mr Gordhan has said the allegations are wholly unfounded and are politically motivated.

The summons requires him to appear in court on 2 November, which is after his budget policy statement due later this month. The fraud charges relate to alleged severance payments made to two senior executives at the South African Revenue Service (SARS), when it was under Mr Gordhan's leadership 10 years ago. Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams also told a news conference that Mr Gordhan was being investigated for his role in setting up a surveillance unit at the tax department around the same time. Mr Gordhan has previously described that allegation as political mischief and has accused the special police unit conducting the investigation, known as the Hawks, of trying to intimidate him. Mr Abrahams denied there had been any political interference in the matter. In a statement released later by his lawyers, Mr Gordhan said he was taking legal advice "to bring the matter to an expedited end".(ANA)

FA/ANA/12 October 2016----