The investigating directorate of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) could be handling more cases but it is still limited by logistical and capacity constraints, its head says.
The directorate was established two years ago for a five-year term to concentrate on serious, complex and high-profile corruption cases, including allegations arising from the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture.
In a briefing to parliament’s justice and correctional services committee, directorate head Hermione Cronje said there is no shortage of cases to pursue but the availability of capacity determines what it can take on.
The directorate is focusing on the security sector — offences in the high ranks of the police, NPA, State Security Agency and Crime Intelligence — and state-owned enterprises, primarily Transnet and Eskom. She also has been requested to authorise further investigations into SAA and the Passenger Rail Agency of SA.
“Until there is capacity to do this work it makes no sense to authorise investigations,” Cronje said.
The directorate appointed 21 investigators in December.
Due to capacity constraints it is only doing cases involving those allegedly most responsible for the corruption and not those involving low-level officials or junior members of private organisations.
“We focus at the level of the most senior members of organisations and obviously those investigations are much more difficult and complex,” she said.
A boost for the directorate was the granting of an order last week by the high court in Pretoria to freeze R1.4bn in assets belonging to former Eskom executives and former Tubular Construction Projects contractors who face charges of fraud and corruption.
Cronje said efforts to have the Gupta brothers, allegedly the architects of state capture, extradited to SA from Dubai where they are staying are continuing. Co-operation has been obtained from a number of countries in this regard.
National director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi said she is confident that the work over the past two years have laid a firm foundation to deal with high-level corruption.
Some investigators and legal personnel are slowly being transferred from the Zondo commission to the directorate, though Cronje said this is being held up to some extent because the commission’s work has not been concluded.
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