Pretoria - The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa not to set up a commission of inquiry into Prasa as proposed by the Zondo Commission, but rather to allow the law enforcement agency to institute a probe.
This was revealed by SIU head advocate Andy Mothibi, who outlined his unit’s plan to combat fraud and corruption which had resulted in the government and state institutions losing billions, due to fraudulent procurement practices.
Mothibi said the SIU had managed to blacklist more than 34 companies – since its sting operation in 2017. The SIU had also blacklisted several directors of these companies – something that has been lacking in several government departments and agencies.
Mothibi has now set his sights on Prasa. “We wrote to the president asking him … to allow us to institute the investigations. We are expecting a response from the President soon.
“We are going to dive deep into what happened at Prasa. We are ready to investigate what caused Prasa to fail,” Mothibi said.
The SIU is expecting Ramaphosa to sign off a proclamation to allow them to conduct investigations into Prasa’s irregular multi-billion rand tenders which the Zondo Commission was unable to make a finding on.
Mothibi was ready for the work, especially with the appointment of top class forensic investigators.
The Zondo Commission’s Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, in June last year, recommended a commission of inquiry into Prasa, and why it had slid into “almost total ruin”. He had also recommended prosecutions of those implicated in wrongdoing at Prasa, among others former chief executive, Lucky Montana, and former chief procurement officer, Chris Mbatha.
Mothibi said: “We’re ready to get to the bottom of the rot. Our main aim is to recover the money and act against all wrongdoers involved.”
Pretoria News