The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says charges civil rights group AfriForum laid against its boss and some of its members on Wednesday are a “desperate campaign to besmirch” the NPA.

AfriForum filed criminal charges against the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams and six NPA employees.

Monique Taute‚ head of AfriForum’s anti-corruption unit‚ said they received an anonymous letter. The letter alleges Abrahams used a witness protection vehicle for personal benefit.

NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said the NDPP is assigned a specialised covert vehicle as part of “normal security practice and standing security arrangements”.

Mfaku added that Abrahams did not request the security enhancement of his car.

“It is vehemently denied that the vehicle was allocated to the National Director for personal‚ private use. There was no corruption whatsoever involved in the use of the vehicle.”

AfriForum said the letter also alleged there was a covertly-funded fraudulent travel claim from four members of the NPA.

Taute said the claims were for travelling to Zeerust‚ but misrepresented that they travelled to Cape Town and spent R97 000 of these covert funds.

Mfaku said the special director Dawood Adams was never in Zeerust or Cape Town at the time or submitted a travel claim.

“The Integrity Management Unit (IMU) of the NPA has been conducting investigations since 2017 regarding the allegations of fraudulent subsistence and travel claims.

“The IMU has a mandate to investigate allegations of alleged misconduct by NPA officials and it is standard practice to refer allegations of criminality to the police.”