by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – AUTHORITIES have frozen about R12,9 billion (US$720,2 million) in funds and assets linked to state capture in South Africa.
A total of 187 accused persons have been taken to court in 32 state capture and corruption cases.
President Cyril Ramaphosa disclosed the figures in his weekly letter, made available on Monday.
He disclosed that as of March 2022, the value of civil litigation referred to the High Courts and the Special Tribunal amounted to R75 billion.
“This is roughly equivalent to what was budgeted for the child support grant this year,” the president highlighted.
Currently, around 119 cases worth more than R12 billion are enrolled at the Special Tribunal.
This week will mark five years since Ramaphosa’s government embarked on what he said was a journey in the fight against corruption.
In delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on February 16, 2018, he said: “We are determined to build a society defined by decency and integrity, that does not tolerate the plunder of public resources, nor the theft by corporate criminals of the hard-earned savings of ordinary people.”
As announced in the SONA last week, he disclosed making the Investigating Directorate a permanent entity within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Ramaphosa announced that another “game-changer” was the establishment in 2019 of the Investigating Directorate (ID) in the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute serious organised crime and corruption cases.
This forms part of the NPA’s priority plan to deal with state capture and high-level corruption.
“We expect that 2023 will be a year of increased activity for the Investigating Directorate as it builds on the sterling work it has done so far,” Ramaphosa said.
As part of its ongoing criminal investigation into corruption at Eskom, the ID has finalised a comprehensive settlement agreement with an international company, ABB, to pay over R2,5 billion in punitive reparations to South Africa.
– CAJ News