Public Protector's letter on "Chippy" Shaik
allegations
Issued by: Office of the Public Protector
Attention: News Editors
For immediate release
20 April 2007
The Public Protector has responded to Mr Trent's request that he
investigate bribery allegations against Mr "Chippy" Shaik.
After due consideration of the request, the media report
concerned, and the Joint Investigation Report into the Strategic
Defence Procurement Packages submitted to Parliament in 2001,
the Public Protector Adv Lawrence Mushwana concluded that he
could not, at this stage, proceed with an investigation as the
"allegation" referred to criminal conduct that German
authorities were investigating.
It would only be possible and proper to consider further
investigation or recommendations in respect of the
administration, propriety and impact of the procurement process
concerned once the criminal and, if so, prosecution of the
suspects, have been concluded.
"The Public Protector does not have powers to conduct criminal
investigations and to institute prosecutions. It is therefore
for the NPA to decide whether the allegations made by Der
Spiegel warrant any further investigation in South Africa, at
this time," Adv Mushwana said.
The response to Mr Trent is a result of a request from the DA on
5 February that the allegations relating to Mr Shaik should be
investigated.
The Public Protector, National Prosecuting Authority and Auditor
General, whose offices jointly investigated the arms procurement
process in 2001, met on 15 March 2006 to confirm the variety of
requests for investigation that have been sent separately to the
institutions and to assess if there were overlapping matters
that could be addressed jointly.
The outcome of the meeting was that "none of the requests
required their joint consideration. They agreed that each
institution would deal with issues that have been raised based
on their own mandates. This means that the three agencies will
not reconstitute a joint investigation team as was structured in
the 2001 investigation. The agencies will respond directly to
the individuals who made enquiries and requests for
investigation."
The Public Protector noted that the Joint Report of 2001 found
that Mr Shaik had not recused himself properly from meetings
that later awarded contracts to his brother Mr Schabir Shaik. Mr
"Chippy" Shaik later resigned from the public service after an
inquiry found that he acted improperly by disclosing
confidential information contained in a draft report of the
Auditor General.
For more information, contact Charles Phahlane on 012 366
7006 or 082 856 8188.
For media releases, speeches and reports visit the Public
Protector's website
www.publicprotector.org
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