A senior National Treasury official has described the conduct of the Guptas and other companies who looted public funds as “treason” and says the government will stop at nothing to ensure their imprisonment.
National Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat told a pre-budget briefing that finance minister Enoch Godongwana had given him “full rights” to engage foreign governments and other international law enforcement bodies to ensure that criminal charges against the Guptas and management consultancy firms, such Bain & Company, were instituted.
Bain last year repaid more than R160m, with interest, in dodgy management fees it had earned from the SA Revenue Service at the height of state capture, during which it played a role in the weakening of the tax institution.
“The minister has given me full rights and we'll do anything and everything to get them in jail ... There's talks with outside authorities,” said Momoniat. “They [Bain] can't just get away with a payment; they've got to pay for their criminal intentions. What they committed, I think it's treason.”
Godongwana makes R426m available for state capture criminal cases
Senior Treasury official describes actions of Guptas and other individuals and companies involved in state capture as 'treason'
A senior National Treasury official has described the conduct of the Guptas and other companies who looted public funds as “treason” and says the government will stop at nothing to ensure their imprisonment.
National Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat told a pre-budget briefing that finance minister Enoch Godongwana had given him “full rights” to engage foreign governments and other international law enforcement bodies to ensure that criminal charges against the Guptas and management consultancy firms, such Bain & Company, were instituted.
Bain last year repaid more than R160m, with interest, in dodgy management fees it had earned from the SA Revenue Service at the height of state capture, during which it played a role in the weakening of the tax institution.
“The minister has given me full rights and we'll do anything and everything to get them in jail ... There's talks with outside authorities,” said Momoniat. “They [Bain] can't just get away with a payment; they've got to pay for their criminal intentions. What they committed, I think it's treason.”
In his budget documents, Godongwana has allocated R426m to the Investigating Directorate, located within the National Prosecuting Authority, and the Financial Intelligence Centre to beef up their capacity for the prosecution of criminal matter stemming from the state capture commission of inquiry.
This allocation — of which R262m is from reprioritisation — will provide for the permanent appointment of 68 staff in the Financial Intelligence Centre and an estimated 90 staff in the Investigating Directorate.
An amount of R34.4m is reprioritised to Legal Aid South Africa over the medium term expenditure framework period to capacitate the six newly established specialised commercial crimes in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and the Northern Cape.
Over the next three years, government's peace and security cluster will be allocated just more than R663bn to intensify the fight against crime and corruption.
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