Mrwebi’s NPA ‘failed to probe bribery’
THE National Prosecuting Authority’s commercial crimes unit under advocate Lawrence Mrwebi allegedly failed to investigate claims that Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) holding company NET1 paid bribes to secure a multimillionrand Sassa tender.
The unit also allegedly failed to investigate Canadian industrial giant Bombardier for allegedly bribing South African politicians and officials to secure a tender to build trains for the Gautrain.
This was the damning evidence of former NPA head of Special Litigation Unit advocate Chris MacAdam during the second day of the sitting of the Mokgoro Commission of Inquiry tasked with probing the fitness of NPA top prosecutors Mrwebi and suspended national deputy director of public prosecutions advocate Nomgcobo Jiba to hold office. MacAdam told the commission both cases were under his radar before he was abruptly removed from his position on October 1, 2015.
He said after his removal, he was ordered to hand all his foreign bribes investigation cases to the Special Commercial Crimes Unit (SCCU), then under Mrwebi.
Detailing the origins of the Gautrain and Sassa matters, MacAdam said they had received requests to investigate possible foreign bribe payments to various individuals in the country for both projects.
MacAdam said the Sassa matter was also serious following the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2013 that Sassa had illegally awarded the tender to CPS but said despite that ruling the SCCU failed to act on his investigations.
He also told the commission that the SCCU failed to act on the request of the American government to investigate politicians and government officials who allegedly received bribes.
MacAdam said the American government had made that request after several Hitachi officials based in the US had pleaded guilty to bribing South African politicians to allow them to do business in the country.
He listed 10 cases including the alleged involvement of MTN in the payment of bribes to Cameroon officials, the arms deal, Denel, PetroSA and the bribery of Iranian officials.
MacAdam said none of those cases was investigated by the SCCU.
In his testimony, MacAdam told the commission that he was appointed to the post by former national director of public prosecutions Mxolisi Nxasana in August 2014.
He said Nxasana effected his appointment after the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) raised a red flag about South Africa’s failure to investigate foreign bribery cases, especially the arms deal.
MacAdam said the OECD pointed out six cases – including the arms deal – as among those which needed attention at the time
He said he set up an anti-corruption task team whose primary duty was to investigate the cases where South African politicians were paid to allow foreign companies to do business in South Africa.
He told the Mokgoro Commission that his unit had made significant progress, including taking measures to prosecute, when he was abruptly removed.
The hearings continue.