Hawks may get to use leaks e-mails
A possible ruling that the Gupta leaks e-mails could be admitted into evidence at the state capture inquiry might result in the Hawks officially using the data as part of criminal investigations.
If the commission’s chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, rules that the Gupta leaks can be admitted, the Hawks will have access to an estimated 200,000 e-mails obtained via hard drives from Gupta-owned company Sahara Computers which contained sensitive information on how the family, their associates and some cabinet ministers had allegedly captured SA parastatals.
The commission heard on Thursday the e-mails are already under investigation by the American authorities.
But Zondo has questioned whether he needs to make an order admitting all of the emails at this stage of the inquiry, and suggested he may only agree to admit those that have already been analysed by commission investigators.
Inquiry legal team heavyweight Paul Pretorius made it clear that commission investigators believed that not only were the e-mails genuine, but their authenticity could be proved through proper forensic investigation. As yet, the Hawks have apparently not had access to the hard drives.
Atul Gupta, former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane and home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba have all reportedly questioned whether the e-mails implicating them are fake.
Lawyer Brian Currin testified on Thursday that unspecified American authorities sought access to, and obtained, a copy of a clone hard drive containing the e-mails.
Currin was involved in protecting the whistleblowers, known only as “Stan” and “John”, responsible for the release of the Gupta e-mails.