The Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO, Collins Letsoalo, has committed to giving the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) access to his bank account statements to prove he “is not corrupt”, amid a probe into multimillion-rand contracts and tenders into the entity.
Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, Letsoalo said the RAF followed all legal requirements in a R79m lease for a Johannesburg building office in which he did not approve a bid evaluation committee’s (BEC’s) recommendation.
The Sunday Times reported on a preliminary SIU report that allegedly “implicated Letsoalo in possible wrongdoing” in the contract.
“They can accuse me of anything, but not that one [corruption]. I sleep nicely at night even when the police pass by,” Letsoalo said.
The SIU recently requested bank account statements from the RAF employees for their investigations, he said.
“They asked for the bank accounts [statements] and we will make them available. I am willing to give them my bank account; I do not have a problem. We will probably need advice from lawyers but from my side, I do not have a problem as long as they will not be leaked.”
Letsoalo, whose term comes to an end in August, said the whistle-blower who made allegations against him was a disgruntled former employee who left the entity after being charged with sexual harassment.
The RAF’s Johannesburg regional office was situated in Marble Towers, in the CBD.
Letsoalo described the building as not fit for RAF employees. “There were irregularities [with the committee recommendation], this thing [lease] went to the market six times. There is an idea that when they bring their recommendations to me I must agree. I’m not a rubber stamp for the [committee]. The Marble Towers in Small Street; do you think RAF employees deserved to be there? Marble Towers had occupational health issues and there were risks.”
The RAF signed a contract with Mowana Properties, which manages a property portfolio owned by the Government Employees Pension Fund.
In approving the lease, the RAF obtained approval from the Treasury, and the auditor-general did not flag the contract as irregular, Letsoalo contends.
“The RAF follows the law. We are here; we expect attacks. These lawyers and doctors that have been defrauding the RAF for a long time, we will fight until the bitter end. They wanted to use the SIU as a smoking gun but they will not get it.”
Letsoalo was confident the final outcomes of the probe would not find him wanting because “there is evidence that we followed the law”.
He said the SIU investigation was recommended by the RAF board, adding that the unit needed to investigate “without fear.”
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