Don't pressure Hawks, NPA for State capture arrests – Hawks

31st July 2017 By: News24Wire

Don't pressure Hawks, NPA for State capture arrests – Hawks

The assistance that a team of senior National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) State prosecutors is providing to the Hawks in their investigation into State capture, "is working very well".

However, pressure should not be placed on them to prosecute, and they must be given time to carry out thorough investigations, Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi has told Netwerk24.

His response follows a Sunday Times report that NPA director Shaun Abrahams has assigned a team of senior prosecutors to focus on cases relating to State capture and the controversial Gupta family.

However, NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said it was nothing new and that Abrahams had said in Parliament in May that he was appointing the team to assist the Hawks in state capture and related cases.

"We appoint prosecutors to give guidance, but they don’t do the investigations."

He pointed out that the NPA always considered "any crime as serious and for that reason we are assisting the Hawks".

Mfaku referred questions about how well the co-operation was progressing to the Hawks.

Mulaudzi said there was co-operation between the NPA and the Hawks in all cases. There is, however, great public interest in cases relating to state capture.

"We are working with seasoned prosecutors who provide guidance where we experience stumbling blocks. Their support enables us to speed up service delivery."

He said the NPA and the Hawks would decide when they were ready to go to court.

"There shouldn’t be pressure on the team to get the cases to court as soon as possible. Let them do their work. They will decide when they are ready or not."

Meanwhile, City Press reported that National Treasury has recommended that Eskom’s former chief executive Brian Molefe, along with suspended chief financial officer Anoj Singh and former acting boss Matshela Koko, must be investigated for corruption.

The paper reported that this is one of the recommendations in their most recent investigation.

The investigation, which included the #GuptaLeaks emails, deals with the coal supply contracts that Eskom awarded to Tegeta Exploration and Resources, a mining company owned by the Guptas and President Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane.

Treasury commissioned the investigation to probe whether Eskom followed proper tender processes when awarding the contracts to Tegeta.

The report has been sent to Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) as well as the Hawks.

Treasury didn’t respond to questions on the matter.