Politics delayed Gupta case, says ANC's Mathole Motshekga

The head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Shaun Abrahams, dismissed Motshekga's assertion on Thursday, telling Reuters: "There was no political influence whatsoever. There's no evidence to that effect." Picture: David Ritchie/African News Agency/ANA

The head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Shaun Abrahams, dismissed Motshekga's assertion on Thursday, telling Reuters: "There was no political influence whatsoever. There's no evidence to that effect." Picture: David Ritchie/African News Agency/ANA

Published Mar 8, 2018

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Johannesburg - Mathole Motshekga, who is leading the investigation into accusations that businessmen used

links with ex-president Jacob Zuma to win contracts said on

Thursday he suspected prosecutors had delayed taking action over

the case for political reasons.

Motshekga said most members of the parliamentary

investigative committee he chaired believed the state

prosecution service had held up the case until it was sure Zuma

would not be replaced by a close ally in a party leadership

election in December.

"This is a very serious matter. It would mean people were

serving political interests rather than serving the public," he

said.

The head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Shaun

Abrahams, dismissed Motshekga's assertion on Thursday, telling

Reuters: "There was no political influence whatsoever. There's

no evidence to that effect."

Zuma resigned last month, ending nine scandal-plagued years

in power overshadowed by accusations by opposition politicians

that his businessmen friends the Gupta brothers had used their

link with him to win millions of dollars of state contracts.

Both Zuma and the Guptas have repeatedly denied any

wrongdoing.

Zuma was replaced by Cyril Ramaphosa who promised to fight

corruption. Ramaphosa had already become the leader of the

ruling African National Congress party after narrowly defeating

Zuma's ex-wife and preferred successor, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,

in December.

Vrede Dairy raid

On the same day as Zuma's resignation, police raided a Gupta

family home in a case relating to a state-funded dairy farm that

prosecutors say was a front to extract millions of dollars of

taxpayers' money.

That first raid connected to the case happened almost five

years after the first allegations of wrongdoing in the dairy

farm contract appeared in the media.

Motshekga's parliamentary committee which is investigating

the Gupta case questioned Abrahams of the National Prosecuting

Authority on Wednesday about why it took so long to investigate

the case.

Motshekga told Reuters on Thursday that - after hearing

Abrahams' testimony - the committee believed there were

political motives behind the delay in taking action over the

dairy farm.

"This was the view of the majority of members of the

committee," Motshekga said.

Motshekga said the Hawks - an elite police unit - told the

committee it gave the NPA crime documents including evidence

related to the case in October last year but the NPA took no

action.

Abrahams told the committee the documents were incomplete,

hence the delay.

But Motshekga said committee members suspected the NPA was

waiting for the result of an ANC leadership contest.

"It raises suspicions that if there had been a different

outcome in that ANC conference then information would have been

suppressed," Motshekga said.

Separately, an elite police unit conducted "a search and

seizure operation" at the offices of Supra Mahumapelo, premier

of the North West province, the government information service

said. Mahumapelo is a Zuma ally.

"The operation follows investigations in relation to alleged

maladministration, fraud and corruption. The monetary value

involved is approximately 160 million rand ($13.4 million)," the

service said.

No one in Supra Mahumapelo's office was immediately

available for comment. 

Reuters

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