Hunt for looted R50bn under way
OVER a dozen officials from several state watchdogs and law enforcement agencies are circling the companies and business people linked to the controversial Gupta family in the hunt for R50 billion looted from the state-owned enterprises.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and the specialised commercial crime units are working with officials from the National Treasury, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission and the Hawks.
The acting head of the AFU, advocate Knorx Molelle, said this was only the first of a deluge of court orders to come as investigations mount against others implicated in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report.
Molelle said the AFU were looking into 17 matters, but six have taken priority and the matters were before the court, awaiting preservation orders.
“Hopefully, we will receive the granted court orders over the next couple of weeks. This is only the first,” Molelle announced on eNCA yesterday.
Molelle said he foresaw a substantial amount of money recovered by the end of the next financial year.
The highly specialised team has already been granted a court order to freeze R1.6 billion in assets from Gupta-linked companies McKinsey and Trillian.
Speaking outside the Pretoria High Court yesterday, acting head of the NPA’s specialised commercial crime unit (SCCU), Malini Govender, said they had been working with the evidence since late last year, with a team consisting of more than 20 people from the NPA, SCCU, Treasury, AFU and others.
She said there were eight legs to the NPA’s investigation – seven from the State of Capture report and one related to Estina, another Guptalinked company in the Free State.
McKinsey’s global spokesperson, UK-based Steve John, said they were made aware of the court order only via the media on Monday.
John said McKinsey would welcome all efforts to help them repay their fee, as they had been “trying to return it since October because Eskom did not follow the appropriate procurement processes”.
The R1.6bn is the same amount that Eskom demanded that the companies pay back last year.
John said they will co-operate with the authorities in the investigations.
He denied that McKinsey ever served the Guptas or any companies linked to the Guptas.
He also denied that McKinsey had provided authorisation for Eskom to pay Trillian.
Molelle said that Trillian had also showed willingness to co-operate and pay back the money.
Both Molelle and Govender quashed rumours of the imminent arrest of those linked to state capture and that an arrest warrant was granted for one of the Gupta brothers, saying it was still early days for arrests to be made.
“This is a very complex matter. This investigation is on a much bigger scale than the arms deal.”