Cape Town - Anti-crime activist Hanif Loonat has accused the Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority of being compromised in a multi-million rand fraud complaint he lodged against a building firm – The Construction Co (TCC) – back in October 2020 and wants the NPA investigated.
The NPA has denied Loonat’s claims and says the matter was only postponed to allow the magistrate to familiarise herself with the case and deal with the application.
The matter is set to be heard in the Bellville Commercial Crimes court on Wednesday. Loonat’s case against TCC, which operates from Maitland, was about alleged irregular/fraudulent transactions with the City.
At the time Loonat said that he had received credible information regarding alleged irregular/fraudulent expenditure during the March lockdown.
He said various budgets were allegedly approved for ill-gotten gains with excessive costings.
The Weekend Argus had previously reported that Loonat alleged serious breaches of the term tender contract between TCC and the City, claiming prices of building materials were inflated by up to 10 times and City officials approved and paid for costs outside of what was allowed.
Under a term tender which normally takes about two to three months to award, the successful bidder can be given additional small projects not exceeding R2 million each during the contract period, without the City having to advertise for a tender again.
However, Loonat claimed the initial project contract was worth R2m but 400 projects ranging from R500 000 to R2m were later issued.
In his complaint against the NPA, Loonat said he had learnt that arrests in the case were being held up by an NPA prosecutor based at the Bellville Commercial Crimes Unit advocate Ezmeralda Johnson.
He said: “Advocate Johnson at the provincial NPA defiantly and unjustly refuses to issue arrest warrants for certain individuals directly linked to the fraud of millions of rand.”
Loonat said that this refusal to issue arrest warrants had frustrated the investigating team who he claimed had found this action by her to be abnormal.
However, he claimed the investigators were wary of challenging Johnson for fear of straining their relationship in future matters.
He also said that an arrest warrant for a prominent attorney was rescinded under what he termed “extremely suspicious circumstances” and that he had been reliably informed that the investigating officer was threatened.
Responding to Loonat, NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the Provincial Commercial Crime Unit investigating officers had been in communication with Johnson since last month and she had provided guidance on the investigation of the case.
With regard to the attorney mentioned in Loonat’s complaint, Ntabazalila said that the police had carried out arrests in December 2021 related to the intimidation of witnesses connected to this case and that the attorney had been identified as one of the suspects.
He said the attorney made representations which resulted in the prosecutor who signed the arrest warrant reconsidering the decision to effect an arrest until the investigations were complete.
He said the police had told Johnson that other witnesses had raised concerns related to their safety and intimidation and that she had given them advice on the issue, which included the laying of intimidation charges.
“This is by no means a reluctance on the part of the prosecutor to deal with the issues raised but rather an execution of her duties to ensure that the proper processes are followed to enable the State to apply for warrants and deal with the issue of bail effectively,” Ntabazalila said.