Retired head of the Assets Forfeiture Unit (AFU) at National Prosecuting Authority, Advocate Willie Hofmeyr says law enforcement bodies should be given enough time to thoroughly investigate commercial transactions that have an element of criminality.
His statement comes after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU)’s report into COVID-19 procurement made over 900 referrals for disciplinary and administrative action.
Other sanctions in the report include the blacklisting of implicated officials in government and state entities.
Advocate Hofmeyr says investigating economic crimes is a long process which has to be conducted thoroughly.
“It’s important that we don’t put undue pressure on law enforcement forces to try and push these investigations. Everything has to be done properly and thoroughly. These things really can only be done with the collaboration of people in the state, probably in the ruling party.”
“I think that’s partly what makes these investigations very, very difficult and why it’s so important that you’re absolutely sure about your facts,” explains Hofmeyr.
The video below is the full interview with Advocate Willie Hofmeyr:
Meanwhile, the SIU investigated more than 5 400 contracts awarded to over 3 000 service providers with a total value of R14.3 billion.
At this stage, investigations have been finalised with respect to 4 549 contracts, of which 2 803 contracts were found to be irregular.
This amounts to 62% of the finalised investigations.
The rand value of actual cash and assets to be recovered on the basis of the investigation is R551 million.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the investigation targeted individuals who believed they could exploit a moment of national vulnerability to enrich themselves through the abuse of public resources.
Below is the report:
