Former transport minister Mac Maharaj has lodged a complaint with the South African Police Services regarding a possible leak of information over his wife's tax status.

A spokesperson for the national commissioner of police, Senior Superintendent Selby Bokaba, on Friday confirmed that a complaint had been lodged.

Maharaj said his complaint was against "the individual source at the Scorpions" unit who was responsible for the leaked information. He said he was contacted by The Star newspaper on Thursday and told that a source in the elite unit had informed the paper that his wife was about to be arrested on tax evasion charges.

When public prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka told Maharaj no such arrest was planned, Maharaj issued a media statement demanding that The Star's source be revealed and prosecuted.

The Star decided to pull the story - written by deputy editor Jovial Rantao - for legal and ethical reasons. Maharaj later issued his statement, saying Rantao had told him that a source in the Scorpions had informed him, "during the past seven days", that Zarina was going to be charged for tax evasion.

"He (Rantao) was not prepared to divulge his source, save to say that his source in the Scorpions was a person he 'had no reason to doubt'," Maharaj said. "I believed it was his (Rantao's) duty as a journalist to ask himself whether his source was manipulating him for the source's own agenda."

Maharaj said if The Star's source proved to be wrong, then he or she was misusing his or her position and should be "identified, investigated and charged".

Scorpions spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said the Scorpions had interviewed Maharaj's wife in June but the unit had not charged anyone as a result of this interview.

The Star's editor, Moegsien Williams, said there were two issues involved: one of sources, and the more important one of the Scorpions' investigation into allegations of corruption committed by some individuals.

"This is a bizarre matter. As a rule, we do not operate on single-source information. After verifying information at our disposal we decided to hold the story until information could be corroborated. Bizarrely, Maharaj issued a statement even though we made him aware that we would not be running the story.

"At stake here is a major political battle by individuals being investigated by the Scorpions. For South Africans the central issue remains whether the Scorpions will prove or disprove the allegations made against Maharaj."

Williams said The Star will never reveal its sources. "It is a principle we are prepared to go to jail for."

With acknowledgements to Noor-Jehan Yoro Badat, Sapa and the Saturday Star.