Question NW2340 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
18 November 2016 - NW2340
Horn, Mr W to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
What are the detailed reasons for the decline in the (a) finalisation rate and (b) issuing of freezing orders by the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit reported in its 2015-16 annual report?
Reply:
(a) Finalization rates’ relate to criminal investigations, which are not conducted by the AFU but by the DPCI (ACTT) and SAPS.
(b) I have been informed by the National Prosecuting Authority, that during the period under review, the Assets Forfeiture Unit (AFU) had undertaken to prioritize the finalization of a large number of freezing orders in terms of Chapter 5 of the Prevention of Organized Crime Act (POCA). The said cases were to be obtained from several complex high value cases that were being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT). As a result of the delays in the finalization of the several investigations at the ACTT, no freezing orders could be secured in respect of those specific cases, hence the decline in the freezing orders for the period.
I have further been informed that due to severe investigative capacity constraints, several freezing orders which were prioritized in terms of Chapter 6 of POCA, could not be finalized.