SA still waiting for full UAE 'co-operation'

SA National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi has said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been requesting information from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for more than three years without success and will only ‘accept’ full co-operation from that country once the information is received. At a media briefing on Friday, notes News24, Batohi said the UAE ratification treaty with SA was a ‘positive development but we will only know that this is making a difference once our requests for mutual legal assistance are fully executed by the UAE and we get the necessary full co-operation, including evidence from the UAE’. The evidence included financial records, she said. ‘As I expressed to the ambassador yesterday (Thursday), we will only accept that there is full co-operation when we receive the necessary information that we have been requesting now for over three years without success,’ she said. The briefing came after a statement by the UAE's ambassador to SA, saying that the agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and extradition between SA and that country was signed in 2018 and ratified in April this year. The statement was issued just days after the NPA’s Investigating Directorate asked Interpol to circulate an international arrest warrant to have the Guptas deported to SA to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges.

‘There was nothing up until this point that precluded co-operation between the two countries,’ Batohi said. 'The treaty doesn't really change anything because there has always been sufficient, legitimate ways in which we could have co-operated but in the spirit of co-operation, I certainly hope that there will be a change and that there will be a positive response for our requests as soon as possible.' News24 notes Justice & Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola welcomed the finalisation and ratification of the treaties on extradition and mutual legal assistance. ‘These treaties are expected to allow for greater co-operation between the two states on legal matters and assist in the investigation and prosecution of crimes,’ he said. Lamola said the treaties would come into effect on 10 July. 'It is a common cause that SA has persons of interest who frequent the UAE and are believed to be in the UAE. It is worth mentioning that our request for mutual legal assistance to the UAE to date, was not prohibited by the fact that there were no treaties in force between the two states. All of our requests were sent in terms of article 44 of the UN Convention against Corruption.'