Probe into corruption allegations at state enterprises

Corruption allegations, both historical and current, against the Hawks and forensic units of state-owned enterprises, will be the subject of a joint investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), reports BusinessLIVE. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said in a written reply to a parliamentary question by DA MP Sejamotopo Motau that the team was reviewing all the forensic reports commissioned by state-owned enterprises to ascertain the number and status of matters referred to the police and the Hawks. To date, 79 such forensic reports concerning matters of malfeasance, fraud and corruption have been referred to the SIU for review. 'The efforts are meant to ensure that where a prima facie case of corruption exists, the law enforcement agencies move to seize assets that are proceeds of corruption,' Gordhan said. He said the work was also meant to establish matters that the boards and executives of state-owned companies failed to refer for criminal investigation by relevant law enforcement agencies, and matters that could expeditiously result in the conviction of those implicated in allegations of corruption concerning state-owned companies. In addition, the SIU was investigating allegations of malfeasance, fraud and corruption in Transnet and Eskom. A motivation will be submitted to Denel to address allegations of corruption in Denel as well.

Full BusinessLIVE report

In another move to halt corruption and curb the abuse of public funds, Parliament is seeking to criminally charge officials who have for years ripped off the state to the tune of billions of rands, a situation that has worsened in recent years, reports the Mail & Guardian Online. Themba Godi, chairperson of Parliament's Scopa, last week again called for a stricter eye to be kept on public expenditure. This included any deviations from standard bidding processes and expansions of existing contracts without valid reasons, practices that Godi said were becoming the norm rather than the exception. 'It is to fight corruption, because when you have officials not wanting a competitive bid but wanting one company to stay in the department forever, it only means there is something in it for them,' he said. Last week, Scopa analysed information about serious offenders. They include the Department of Defence and the State Information Technology Agency, whose deviated expenditure tipped the scales at an estimated R734m and R288m respectively in the last two quarters of the 2016-2017 financial year. A draft Treasury document detailing guidelines for managing deviations, contract variations and expansions presented to Scopa this year also noted that 'deviations appeared to be the norm rather than the exception'. This, the document said, demonstrated the poor level of planning by departments and public entities. This abuse and lack of planning has already led the Treasury to tighten its regulations on deviations, noting that these may only occur in an emergency and if only one supplier for a particular product or service exists.

Full Mail & Guardian Online report