Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – The Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigations (DPC) affectionately known as Hawks was left with an ostrich egg on it following a scathing judgment on Friday.
This after the state prosecuted the first State Capture case involving R24.9 million the Department of Agriculture in Free State paid to Nulane Investment for the Estina Dairy Farm feasibility study.
The accused were all discharged with acting Judge Nompumelo Gusha blasting the state by likening their “arrest and investigate later” approach to children of regrets.
“Haste and hurry can only bear children with many regrets along the way.”
The accused didn’t even have to take the stand, that’s how poor the case was and Judge Gusha had no option but to discharge him.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) indicated they might appeal the judgment although even the blind could see from day one that they will not win this case.
Questions of political motivation and social media influence are starting to pop up as cases with low prospects are prioritized while pure corruption and money laundering are overlooked.
Last year KPMD report commissioned by Treasury found R600 million irregular expenditure on Math Labs at Free State Education and AGSA dismissed reasons for failure to go out on a tender in favor of deviation.
In the tender in question, we discovered the department paid R500 000 per class.
The department could not produce evidence and approval from the Director General of the National Department as usage of the Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) as expected.
The other example is Mangaung Taxi Rank and Bus Rapid project. Why are the Hawks not investigating it?
We asked the AGSA according to their records how much was spent on the Rank and Afrika Boso said R350m yet the rank remains a bloody white elephant.
There are also 44 cases involving municipalities as per their report presented in parliament last year but there no movement.
In other news, the Special Tribunal will today sit and listen to a review application brought by Consumer Connectedness (C-2).
Brigadier Mbongo of the Hawks did not respond to our questions.
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