I'm not captured or incompetent - Abrahams

Cape Town - National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams says he has not been "politically captured" and is competent to do his job.

"I am not politically captured. I am not captured by anyone. As far as competency is concerned, my career speaks for itself," he told EWN in a recent interview.

"Certainly, no one who is incompetent can achieve what I have achieved in my career."

He said he was more than fit and proper to hold his position in the NPA, and as an advocate.

On Monday, Abrahams announced he would be withdrawing fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, former South African Revenue Service commissioner Oupa Magashula and former deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay.

Gordhan had been due to appear in court on Wednesday in relation to Pillay's early retirement, on which he signed off.

Difference of legal opinions

In withdrawing the charges, Abrahams said he was satisfied that Magashula, Pillay and Gordhan did not have the requisite intention to act unlawfully.

He said the matter was not a blunder, but a matter of a difference of legal opinions.

"Will I resign? I certainly will not," he told journalists when asked if he would step down.

Abrahams told EWN he had reviewed many decisions made by directors and that this case was no different. He believed that nobody was above the law in any circumstances.

"If there is an investigation that must be conducted, if there are merits in an investigation, then that investigation must see its ultimate conclusion."

Abrahams also told EWN that he would never throw his mentor Torie Pretorius, the acting special director of public prosecutions, under the bus for the decision to prosecute.

He also gave the assurance that he had not discussed the case with President Jacob Zuma during a meeting at Luthuli House on higher education protests.

This article first appeared on News24.