Subject: Public Protector rejects OCCRP report as malicious and defamatory
Public Protector Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane rejects with contempt the claims contained in a report by donor-funded non-profit organisation, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), that she was "flagged' by international banking institution, HSBC, as having financial inks to the Gupta family.
Adv. Mkhwebane would like to place on the record the fact that she heard for the first time from the OCCRP last Thursday that she had been "flagged”. HSBC has never brought this “flagging" to her attention and she has absolutely no links with the Guptas.
It is important to highlight that by the OCCRP'S own admission in their written request to the Public Protector for comment, “there is no indication that the source of the funds were from the Gupta network, simply that she was flagged as part of it by the bank.”
It is strange that, today, the organisation reports that she was “flagged” as having financial ties to the Guptas.
Adv. Mkhwebane said in a speech delivered at an event hosted by an organisation of Sheriffs in Mpumalanga last month that ever since she started investigating the conduct of certain powerful people, she has been the target of dirty tricks from some figures and their allies in civil society, political circles and in the media. This is yet another example of the onslaught.