DA lays corruption charges against Arthur Fraser and his family

I have today laid corruption charges against State Security Agency (SSA) Director-General (D-G), Arthur Fraser, and his family in terms of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act. This supplements the formal complaint I lodged with the Inspector-General of Intelligence on 18 May 2017.

The allegations against Fraser and members of his family, as detailed most recently in Jacques Pauw’s The President’s Keepers, relate to the period 2007 to 2009 when Fraser, as Deputy D-G: Operations of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), initiated and oversaw the dubious Principle Agent Network (PAN) programme.

An internal investigation into the PAN programme reportedly found wide-scale financial mismanagement, fruitless expenditure, nepotism and corruption amounting to tens of millions of rands.

The investigation is also said to have found sufficient proof to institute criminal investigations against a number of persons involved with the PAN programme, including Arthur Fraser.

Furthermore, the involvement of Arthur Fraser’s family includes:

- His brother, Barry Fraser, whose company concluded a R24 million lease agreement to warehouse an estimated 293 vehicles, purchased for ‘operational use’;

- His son, Lyle Fraser, who was employed as the floor manager in the warehouse;

- His mother, C.F. Fraser, who served as a board member of a community-based organisation dealing with conflict resolution, especially at schools. The PAN programme contributed R10 million towards the organisation which was found to not resort under the mandate of the NIA and produced no product in return;

Pauw’s book and related media reports paint the picture of a covert programme which was used as a personal enrichment scheme for the Frasers and other intelligence operatives. The ‘secret’ nature of their activities have allowed those who fleeced the SSA to escape accountability for far too long.

The outrageous details that have now emerged about Fraser’s past not only reinforce our objections to his appointment in September 2016, but also necessitates a proper investigation into his criminal conduct and that of his family.

Statement issued by John Steenhuisen MP, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 14 November 2017