Question NW2030 to the President of the Republic
11 January 2022 - NW2030
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 published in December 2018, he (a) established a multi-disciplinary investigation team to deal with the criminal investigation and (b) appointed a private advocate to conduct internal disciplinary hearings; if not, in each case, (i) why not and (ii) by what date does he intend to take each of the specified actions; if so, (aa) on which date(s) was the (aaa) multidisciplinary investigation team established and (bbb) private advocate appointed, (bb) what are the terms of reference in each case and (cc) what are the details of the progress that has been made in each case? NW2267E
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.
The criminal and departmental investigations were initiated prior to the recommendations of the Panel in compliance with the law.
The criminal investigations were referred to the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation on 19 June 2018 and 29 July 2018. The referrals were made in compliance with section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004. An internal investigation using a multi-disciplinary approach was also
initiated on 5 December 2018 in compliance with the statutory obligations of the Accounting Officer in the Public Finance Management Act, 1999.
Pursuant thereto, allegations of corrupt networks activities in the State Security Agency were referred to the Investigative Directorate of the National Prosecuting Authority on 14 October 2020.
Furthermore, an independent forensic firm has been appointed to conduct a forensic investigation into allegations of malfeasance, corruption and criminality in the State Security Agency, which was launched on 8 November 2021.
Two external advocates were appointed in 2019 and 2020 to draft charge sheets and prosecute the disciplinary matters. The disciplinary hearings will convene in due course.