Cape Town - The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have set their sights firmly on investigating and prosecuting fraud and corruption that took place at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
On Wednesday, the two law enforcement agencies detailed how they planned to tackle Prasa in the wake of the Zondo Commission recommending an inquiry into the rail agency’s affairs.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his implementation plan submitted to Parliament last month, said he would like to wait for investigations by SIU and the Hawks before deciding on another inquiry.
SIU head Andy Mothibi told Scopa that there was work being done by law enforcement agencies such as the NPA, the ID and the SIU on Prasa.
“But to take forward the recommendation of Zondo we will be looking at amended proclamation to ensure we now dive deep into what honourable Mente said (that) Prasa has really collapsed.
The Zondo Commission said we need to delve deep into what caused the ruin at Prasa and who should be held responsible,” Mothibi said.
He said the commission did not have sufficient time to probe Prasa matters further, hence it made the recommendation for the institution of an inquiry.
“We will be processing a proclamation to that effect,” he said. He made the statement when the law enforcement agencies were briefing the standing committee on public accounts on investigations conducted into SOEs.
This as the MPs heard that the long-standing memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been concluded between the law enforcement agencies.
NPA deputy director of public prosecutions Rodney de Kock said the memorandum would govern the operational way they worked as law enforcement agencies and enhance the quality of this work.
“We are happy that there is a lot of work happening at the operational level to strengthen the manner in which we work. We are confident that we are to enhance everything we do as law enforcement agencies,” De Kock said.
Mothibi said they had agreed in the MoU to adopt an integrated approach to ensure that they produced results timely and which were supported by evidence.
“Once evidence is gathered, it is credible and enables us to take action.
We like to take timely action and we will continue to do so,” Mothibi said.
De Kock said they were in discussion with the SIU to assign prosecutors to a project team to investigate Prasa matters. “It is going to be an important development.
When the SIU identifies a particular investigation that justifies the involvement of prosecutors at an early stage, we are now to assign prosecutors to that team,” he said.
De Kock said the initiative would help fast-track those investigations. “We will want to review all of the big projects we are currently involved with”.
Cape Times