Denise Williams
THE National Prosecuting Authority is studying a docket containing serious corruption allegations involving millions of rand against senior ANC MP Yolanda Botha.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question submitted by DA MP Anchen Dreyer, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe confirmed that a substantial docket had been submitted to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Northern Cape on July 31 and that a case had been opened on August 1.
The DA laid a complaint with police alleging corruption to the tune of R50-million involving Botha last year. The charges relate to Botha's alleged links to property group Trifecta Investment Holdings, a company she reportedly awarded office lease contracts to while she was the head of the Northern Cape Department of Social Development.
Radebe said the prosecutor dealing with the case was yet to make a decision as to whether to prosecute Botha. This was because of the time involved in sifting through the docket which consisted of 15 lever arch files containing more than 3 000 pages including banks statements, bid documents, service level agreements, lease contracts and witness affidavits. Dreyer yesterday welcomed the news that a comprehensive investigation had been conducted by the Special Investigations Unit.
She said charges were laid after the Parliamentary Ethics Committee "backtracked" on a decision to impose strong sanctions against Botha and allowed her to get away with a small fine and a reprimand. Chairman of the committee, ANC MP Ben Turok, said the decision to impose a fine on Botha had been unanimous. "We were unanimous all along, we had hearings, we had lawyers, we found her guilty." He said the fine and the reprimand were the maximum sanctions available in terms of parliamentary rules.
He said there had been disagreement over whether to inform the relevant law enforcement body, but this matter had fallen away as it was, among other things, in the public domain.
