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SCOPA met today with the heads of the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to hear a report on progress in respect of the ongoing criminal investigations into the arms deal contracts. The meeting was unsatisfactory and Democratic Alliance (DA) and other opposition MPs looked in vain for any evidence of urgency or commitment to pursue these investigations to their conclusion. Rather, SCOPA was told that it might take 3 to 5 years to conclude the investigations after which the court processes would only begin.

Only two investigations are still active - those of the German Frigate Consortium (GFC) and the BAE Hawk/Gripen deal. A single investigator has been assigned by the Hawks but there was no indication as to what resources he would command or the priority these matters would enjoy. The GFC investigation is back with the NPA who have still to assign a prosecutor to deal with the legal cooperation which will be required from Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Jersey and the UK.

The investigations have to deal with huge volumes of material left over from the search and seizure operation conducted in Nov 2008 by the now defunct Scorpions. At the time some 460 boxes of material were taken and there are 4.7 million electronic documents to examine. Adequate resources are clearly not being allocated to the task. The country is still years away from seeing anyone prosecuted for receiving between R450 and R500 million in bribes.

The DA will continue to press for regular updates and reports to SCOPA and for action by the Department of Justice in terms of securing legal cooperation from other countries. Like the vast majority of South Africans, the DA is incensed that this whole process has been allowed to drag on while the fraudsters have escaped prosecution owing to their 'political connections.'