Parliament assures MPs of Gupta probe funding

Committee concerned Guptas may flee South Africa

MPs HAVE been given the assurance by Parliament that they will receive the resources they need to deal with state capture.

This came as panic struck the public enterprises portfolio committee that the Gupta family were planning to skip the country after selling some of their assets.

Acting chairperson of the committee Zukiswa Rantho said yesterday they were promised funding after a meeting this week.

Rantho said they had been given the assurance of funding by House chairperson Cedric Frolick, who established several committees to probe state capture.

In addition to the committees on home affairs, mineral resources, transport and public enterprises, Frolick added the communications committee to probe state capture.

Rantho said there was no indication of how much will be given to them, but there was commitment to fund all the needs of the committee.

The details would be known later this week, she told MPs.

EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu urged members of the committee not to panic after they learnt the Guptas had sold Tegeta to a foreign-based business.

Shivambu said the committee would ensure that the Guptas appeared before them when the investigation started.

Other committee members, including Pravin Gordhan of the ANC and Natasha Mazzone of the DA, said the sale of the assets was an indication that the family wanted to skip the country.

But Shivambu said this was an attempt by the Guptas to get banking facilities for their companies.

MPs said the longer the investigation took, the more it would impact on their work.

This would include getting an evidence leader, who would need about two weeks to sift through all the documents.

Rantho said there was a lot of work that needed to be done in the investigation.

She said they would need as many resources as possible to fulfil their mandate and scope of work.

However, this did not mean there should be delays in the inquiry. Rantho also said the inquiry must start urgently.

The dates for the start of the inquiry will be known once Parliament has confirmed the funding.