Days of not holding govt officials accountable are over - NPA boss
Pretoria - NPA boss Shaun Abrahams on Tuesday lambasted those questioning his decision to prosecute Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on fraud charges.
"What if this decision was made by a judge or the Public Protector?" he asked.
"The days of disrespecting the NPA are over. The days of not holding senior government officials accountable are over."
Last week, the Constitutional Court refused to hear the National Prosecuting Authority’s application for leave to appeal against the order to reinstate corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma.
In April, the High Court in Pretoria ruled that the 783 fraud, racketeering, and corruption charges against Zuma should be reinstated.
Abrahams said on Tuesday that he did not find himself in an awkward position over the Gordhan matter, and that he would not resign if the prosecution did not succeed.
He said the purpose of Tuesday's media briefing was to set out the lawfulness of the Sars "rogue unit" and its work, although he said Gordhan was not being charged in relation to the rogue unit.
He was being charged with fraud because of the terms Gordhan and former Sars commissioner Oupa Magashula agreed to for Sars deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay's retirement.
Abrahams said Magashula, the finance officer at the time, had caused the revenue service an unnecessary expense.
At the time of Tuesdays’ announcement, Gordhan was attending an open tender seminar in Midrand.
He said his lawyers would issue a statement later. He was due to deliver his medium-term budget policy statement, or mini-budget, on October 26.
“South Africans must ask who the Hawks are really serving,” Gordhan said.
Gordhan will still be charged over 'rogue unit' - high profile source
Just because Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and a group of ex-employees at Sars have not been charged for the so-called "rogue unit", does not mean it will not happen soon.
A high profile source close to the matter told News24 that the fact that NPA boss Shaun Abrahams spoke at length about the unit at a briefing on Tuesday, showed the Hawks and the NPA were still looking at these allegations.
Abrahams said the unit did not have the legal framework to carry out covert operations.
"The rogue unit charges are almost ready. It will be wave number two," said the source.
The National Prosecuting Authority charged Gordhan with fraud. This was related to his giving permission for former deputy Sars commissioner Ivan Pillay to go on early retirement, and then extending his contract. The source said this was because the justice sector needed a charge that would stick to Gordhan.
"Make no mistake, the 'rogue unit' case will come."
The source said there was an urgency to lay a charge against Gordhan because of pressure being placed on current Sars commissioner Tom Moyane, the upcoming Public Protector report on state capture, and Treasury blocking questionable deals.
"It’s a timing issue. They had to go with something now and they chose what they thought was the simplest case."
