Hawks mum on five Estina suspects

THE Hawks yesterday refused to provide details on the five suspects still wanted in the Estina dairy project case.

Hawks’ acting head Yolisa Matakata said at a media briefing in Pretoria yesterday that the Hawks could not name the remaining five suspects for “reasons best known to us”.

Eight suspects appeared in the Bloemfontein Regional Court last week in relation to the project and were granted bail.

Matakata said the only person the Hawks had mentioned after the appearance of the eight was Ajay Gupta‚ who was wanted on a corruption matter unrelated to the Estina investigation.

She said the Hawks were still negotiating with his lawyers, who had written to the Hawks. Matakata said the Hawks had “responded accordingly”.

Matakata said the arrest of the eight was the first phase in the Hawks state capture investigations.

“It is neither a procedure nor policy to prematurely reveal pending investigations or sought suspects as this will compromise our ongoing cases‚” she said.

Matakata did say there was no warrant of arrest for former president Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane. “We have never made that announcement‚” Matakata said.

When asked whether the corruption case Atul Gupta is wanted for was related to the claim made by former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas that he was offered a bribe‚ Matakata said she was not at liberty to state what the complaint related to specifically. —