Bain said it had apologised for the mistakes its South African office made in its work with Sars and that it had repaid all fees from the work in 2018 with interest.
The management consultancy said it had not acted illegally at Sars or elsewhere and no evidence to the contrary has been put forward. In a speech to the House of Lords last month, Lord Hain said that the firm had earned fees estimated at 100 m from state institutions, and had brazenly assisted Mr Zuma to organise his decade of shameless looting and corruption.
Bain used its expertise not to improve the functioning of a world-renowned tax authority, as Sars was acknowledged, but to disable its ability to collect tax and pursue tax evaders, all in the service of their corrupt paymasters. Lord Hain received a letter from his office in January confirming that the Cabinet Office had been asked to look into this matter with urgency after raising the issue with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.