Question NW2029 to the President of the Republic
11 January 2022 - NW2029
Steenhuisen, Mr JH to ask the President of the Republic
Whether, with reference to Recommendation 2.4 of the Report of the High- Level Review Panel on the State Security Agency (SSA) published in December 2018, he referred the recommendations of the Panel to the appropriate law enforcement bodies, oversight institutions and internal disciplinary bodies for investigation of all manifest breaches of law, regulations and other prescripts at the SSA as highlighted by the report with a view of instituting, where appropriate, criminal and/or disciplinary prosecutions; if not, (a) why not and (b) by what date does he envisage he will give the instructions; if so, (i) on which date(s) did he give the instruction(s), (ii) to which law enforcement bodies, oversight institutions and internal disciplinary bodies was each instruction given and (iii) what are the details of (aa) all criminal and disciplinary prosecutions that have ensued as a result of the referral for investigation and (bb) the current status and/or outcome of each criminal and disciplinary prosecution to date? NW2266E
Reply:
The High Level Review Panel (HLRP) Report on the State Security Agency was handed over to the former Ministers of State Security for implementation.
With regard to Recommendation 2.4 of the Report, criminal and departmental investigations were initiated prior to the recommendations of the Panel in compliance with the law.
Criminal investigations were referred to the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation on 19 June 2018 and 29 July 2018. The referrals were made by the then Acting Director-General in compliance with section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004. An internal investigation was initiated on 5 December 2018 in compliance with the statutory obligations of the Accounting Officer in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act, 1999.
Pursuant thereto, allegations of corrupt networks activities in the State Security Agency were referred to the Investigative Directorate in the National Prosecuting Authority on 14 October 2020. Furthermore, an independent forensic firm has been appointed with effect from 2 November 2021 to conduct a forensic investigation into allegations of malfeasance, corruption and criminality in the State Security Agency.
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence receives briefings by the State Security Agency with regards to progress on these matters.