NPA 'blackmailed' over Zuma charges - prosecutors

It says this is revealed in more than 300 pages of internal e-mails, memos and minutes of meetings in its possession. The documents raise questions about why then prosecutions boss Mokotedi Mpshe ignored all their advice and let Zuma off the hook, citing the spy tapes as evidence that Zuma was the victim of a plot. The documents reveal that the Scorpions team prosecuting Zuma: * Believed Zuma was trying to 'blackmail' them into dropping the charges by threatening to release information on the tapes that would be embarrassing to the NPA. * Urged Mpshe several times to proceed with the prosecution after being briefed about the spy tapes. * Pointed out 'fatal' legal flaws in Mpshe's decision not to proceed. * Questioned former NPA boss Bulelani Ngcuka twice about the spy tapes. Ngcuka told them that the people who had accused him of being an apartheid spy were also behind these tapes. The documents include minutes of a briefing held in Mpshe's boardroom on 18 March 2009 by Asset Forfeiture Unit head Willie Hofmeyr and Pretoria prosecutor Sibongile Mzinyathi - the only two NPA officials who listened to the tapes. The minutes reveal that Zuma's lawyer, Michael Hulley, approached Hofmeyr with 'new evidence' that he said warranted dropping the charges against Zuma - phone taps of Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy, which he asked Hofmeyr to listen to. The tapes 'seemed to be' from the National Intelligence Agency and would be used by Hulley to argue for a permanent stay of prosecution, the minutes state. According to notes made by Hofmeyr and Mzinyathi while they listened to the tapes, the recordings revealed McCarthy was 'part of a campaign for Thabo Mbeki' to win the ANC elective conference in Polokwane in December 2007, which Zuma won.

The Sunday Times says the documents reveal that on at least two occasions after the spy tapes briefing prosecutors sent a memo to Mpshe urging him to press ahead with the Zuma prosecution. Attached to one of the memos was a letter that prosecutors expected Mpshe to sign and send to Hulley, rejecting the spy tapes as a reason for dropping the charges. 'A decision not to prosecute ... would undoubtedly be regarded by many as simply caving in to political pressure,' says the letter, which was never signed by Mpshe. 'After anxious consideration, I have concluded that my decision to indict your client in 2007 was not influenced, improperly or otherwise, by McCarthy.' The letter also states that Hulley's threat to include allegations of political interference based on the spy tapes in a court application, and his 'observations that this would be a great embarrassment to the NPA and the persons concerned' amounted to 'blackmail'. Only Hofmeyr apparently believed McCarthy's 'alleged prosecutorial misbehaviour' warranted dropping the charges, according to one memo. Asked if it had caved in to blackmail by dropping charges against Zuma, NPA spokesperson Bulelwa Makeke said: 'This is a sideshow that the NPA would rather not be part of at this point, as it is still awaiting a court ruling on this matter.' Full Sunday Times report (subscription needed)

The NPA attempted to prevent the Sunday Times from publishing the documents.In an urgent North Gauteng High Court application on Saturday evening, Acting Judge Nomsa Khumalo said since the paper was already in circulation, interdicting the distribution process would serve no purpose. 'The applicant (NPA) was alerted to the matter on the 15 November and has failed to prove to this court that the submission now (to halt the distribution) is an urgent matter,' said Khumalo, according to a Moneyweb report. The NPA's bid was dismissed with costs. Advocate Jaap Cilliers, for the NPA had argued that the information in the Sunday Times report was 'unlawfully obtained,' therefore it should not be allowed to sail into the public domain through the newspapers' reports. 'The Sunday Times obtained this information unlawfully, as we will lead evidence to prove; surely (the court interdict) would limit the damage that will be done. The editor of the Sunday Times knew (about the application of the interdict) but chose to go ahead to printing,' said Cilliers. Advocate John Campbell SC submitted that the newspaper solicited for clarity from the NPA on the matter on 15 November without success. He said 'the newspaper has a business to run' and an interdict would be a blow to press freedom and the business. Campbell conceded the information may have been unlawfully obtained but 'not by us (the Sunday Times)'. Full Moneyweb report

It was concerning that the NPA went to a great deal of trouble to prevent publication, the DA said yesterday, according to a report on the News24 site. 'The documents are already in the public domain so why do President Zuma's lawyers and the NPA insist on keeping the reduced record from us,' DA MP James Selfe asked. 'These documents only bolster the DA's case that the decision needs to be reviewed.' He said the DA's second application to gain access to the reduced record would be heard early next year. 'It would save both sides a lot of time and the unnecessary use of public funds if, now that the documents are in the public domain, they were handed over to the DA as was required by the (original) SCA judgment,' said Selfe. Full report on the News24 site