Sticky-fingered spooks in trouble
Spooks splurged on luxury houses and cars, says report
● Rogue spies who plundered more than R1bn should face criminal charges, says parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence.
The committee’s annual report says the Principal Agent Network (PAN) was used to loot the secret account of the State Security Agency. PAN was championed by former state security director-general Arthur Fraser, who is not mentioned by name in the report.
It reveals that the committee asked President Cyril Ramaphosa in March for an investigation of the looting.
“The [committee] recommended to the president that anyone found to have been involved in any type of crime regarding the activities relating to PAN had to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” says the report.
State security minister Dipuo LetsatsiDuba is giving the committee’s report urgent attention, her spokesperson said.
● Parliament wants rogue spooks involved in the alleged plundering of more than R1bn in intelligence funds through a controversial secret spying operation brought to book.
A call to re-open the investigation against the spies is among recommendations contained in the annual report of parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence.
In its report for the 2017/2018 financial year, which came to light this week, the committee took aim at the Principal Agent Network (PAN) project, saying it was used to loot the secret account of the State Security Agency.
The project was championed by former agency director-general Arthur Fraser, though the report does not name him.
In his book The President’s Keepers, journalist Jacques Pauw claimed that the agency wasted about R1bn over three years.
Pauw said that the agency bought 293 cars — BMWs, Audis and Golf GTIs — for its 72 rogue agents. It stored these in three warehouses owned by relatives of the agents. The warehouses were leased for R24m.
According to Pauw, the spies also bought properties for R48m that were registered in the names of the agents.
Auditors said the programme was riddled with waste, corruption and nepotism.
The committee asked President Cyril Ramaphosa in March for a new investigation of the project’s looting so that those responsible could be prosecuted.
The report said the committee “persuaded the president to reopen the matter for proper investigation and prosecution”.
It said the committee believed a “serious crime may have been committed” by those responsible for the project.
The committee also recommended to the president that anyone involved in the project who was guilty of a crime “had to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law”.
The project was investigated by the inspector-general of intelligence in 2014 but the committee now wanted it probed anew amid attempts by the Ramaphosa administration to rid the intelligence community of rogue elements.
Fraser declined to comment, saying he had not seen the JSCI report.
“I am not the correct person to respond. This matter resides in the domain of parliament and should be treated accordingly,” he said.
The committee chairman, Amos Masondo, could not be reached for comment.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, declined to comment. She said the president had not seen the report. She would not comment on the committee’s request for a new investigation of the project.
It has been established that former state security minister Siyabonga Cwele, under whose tenure the project was established, briefed the committee last month on a forensic investigation of the project in 2010.
State security minister Dipuo LetsatsiDuba will brief the committee on the project next year, her office said.
“The minister is aware that the report on the PAN programme is due for presentation to the [parliamentary committee] and has undertaken to do so without delay,” said her spokesperson, Lebohang Mafokosi.
Mafokosi said the report was receiving “urgent attention” from the minister.
She said anyone involved in corruption or criminality related to the project or work of the State Security Agency would be dealt with according to the laws of the country.
The committee said it was concerned about the “deployment of people without integrity” in the intelligence agency while “others have … not been equal to the job”.
“Parliament must resolve that all senior officials should be vetted,” it said.
The committee cited the cases of former police crime intelligence chief Richard Mdluli as one of the matters it had to deal with during the period under review. Mdluli has since been dismissed from his job.
The committee lamented the spies’ lack of accountability with regard to secret accounts, saying the spies needed to show restraint in how they spent public money.
“The committee is therefore of the view that when huge amounts of money have been allocated to operations, a list of successes must be compiled to justify the funds allocated,” it said.