Hawks told to step up Gupta hunt

MPs left frustrated by slow pace in case against the fugitive brothers

ANGRY MPs have warned the Hawks and the country’s other law enforcement agencies to step up their hunt for the Guptas who are believed to have taken refuge from prosecution in Dubai.

Appearing before Parliament’s police portfolio committee yesterday, newly-appointed Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya said the unit was probing eight cases of state capture involving billions of rand.

He said in some cases, statements have been taken from witnesses.

This was in response to MPs who expressed exasperation at the slow pace of the state capture probe, months after the Gupta brothers had fled South Africa.

The Hawks were also on the receiving end of criticism for not cracking the Steinhoff case.

However, the unit said it had roped in audit firms with forensic skills to go through a mountain of complex and intricate documents on Steinhoff transactions.

The group faced a major corporate scandal with more than R196 billion of its value wiped off its books in December last year because of a mis-statement of its accounts.

It was also facing a lawsuit from shareholders for R185bn – a major legal claim against any company.

MPs were also demanding that action should have been brought against former Free State premier, and current ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane for their role in the Estina dairy project.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was forced by the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services to re-open her investigation into Estina and probe the roles of Zwane and Magashule.

Lebeya said they did not want to name people being investigated by the Hawks except for those who have been charged and have appeared in court. Several officials who worked for the Guptas and the Free State government were on trial in Bloemfontein.

“On the question of the list of the accused on the Estina matter, we have only reflected on those who have become the accused. The suspects have not been mentioned,” said Lebeya.

He said they were improving their financial capacity to deal with the complex matter of Steinhoff.

“The restructuring process and our preparedness to deal with accounting fraud; we are working on various ways to strengthen the DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation),” he said.

He added that they were looking at hiring auditors to work for the Hawks.

The ANC’s Phindile Molla said the Hawks needed more investigators with financial skills to crack these complex cases.

Phillip Mhlongo, of the EFF, said the government waited too long before it acted on the Guptas.

He said what had happened was an embarrassment and a shame to the people.

The DA’s Zakhele Mbhele and Mhlongo asked why Zwane and Magashule have not been charged when the police knew they were part of the Estina dairy scandal.

Mbhele and Mhlongo accused the Hawks of going after easy targets while avoiding politicians.