Hawks unit attempted to sabotage Gupta bribe case - Mcebisi Jonas

Mcebisi Jonas has made a bombshell revelation at the state capture commission of inquiry about how the Hawks unit attempted to deliberately sabotage the investigation into the Guptas’ attempt to bribe him. 

The former deputy minister of finance said the head of the Hawks anti-corruption unit allegedly tried to force him to sign a false statement to halt the police investigation into the Guptas attempt to promote him to finance minister in October 2015.

In a morning of startling evidence at the inquiry, Jonas told Judge Raymond Zondo that he refused to sign a draft statement presented to him by Major-General Zinhle Mnonopi who said they wanted to “kill the case” as it was a “DA matter”. 

He said Mnonopi told him in the presence of his lawyer “there is no case here”.

The draft police statement, which Jonas attached to his affidavit, wanted to present the false impression that he was refusing to co-operate with the investigators. Jonas said in his affidavit to the commission that the conduct of the Hawks did not surprise him given the extent to which the institution was “compromised”.

Earlier Jonas told the commission how Ajay Gupta threatened to kill him if he revealed the bribe offer to him. He also told how he and finance minister Nhlanhla Nene were being pressure on the nuclear deal. 

There was “huge hostility”, Jonas said.

“The pressure on us from president and cabinet to approve nuclear deal was immense.”