NPA targets private sector corruption
THE National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is setting its sights firmly on corruption in the private sector.
This was said by NPA head Shaun Abrahams when he and other corruption-busting bodies briefed the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) in Parliament this week.
He was responding to questions from parliamentarians about what was being done to deal with corruption outside the public sector, an area the Anti-corruption Task Team (ACTT) is currently not focusing on.
Abrahams said they were pursuing corrupt people – and that when they were arrested and convicted, they were receiving lengthy prison sentences.
“We continue in our pursuit of other high-profile matters, but it’s not only government officials. Government can’t be corrupt on its own,” he said.
“The initiatives to eradicate corruption in government require us to be equally aggressive in fighting corruption in the private sector,” Abrahams added.
He said so-called collusion or price fixing by companies in the private sector was another name for corruption.
“The competition commissioner and I have been trying to facilitate a meeting for weeks to discuss this issue,” he said.
Abrahams said they both agreed cartels needed to be stopped – and that there was concern about how they were treated when caught out: fines that amounted to no more than a slap on the wrist for such “egregious” conduct.
The Scopa heard that the ACTT had 77 corruption inquiries between 2014 and now, while 85 corruption cases involving R5 million and more were being handled.
The Asset Forfeiture Unit had recovered R1.553 billion in 2014-15, R136m in 2015-16 and R220.6m in 2016-17.