NPA prioritising cases involving looting of billions of rand at National Lotteries Commission
The Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Rodney de Kock said the destruction of documents at the NCL makes it difficult to prove a case in court.
The National Lotteries Commission has over the years received many qualified opinions from the Auditor-General. Picture: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp
CAPE TOWN - The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it’s prioritising cases involving the looting of millions of rand from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC).
But building solid cases against the accused is proving tricky, with executives having destroyed documentary evidence allegedly on the instruction of the State Security Agency (SSA).
On Wednesday, Parliament’s trade, industry and competition committee heard that at least 10 criminal referrals have been made to the NPA by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
These include senior employees - past and present.
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The Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Rodney de Kock said the destruction of documents at the NCL makes it difficult to prove a case in court.
And despite attempts at a clean-up at the commission, prosecutors have to engage the organisation with caution.
"We are also mindful, that it appears, that within the institution as we speak, there are still people that are involved in crime."
SIU forensic investigator Mashudu Netshikweta said the disappearing documents date back to at least 2008.
"There was a document distributed to the senior officials - the executives at NLC - that SSA has instructed NLC to remove some of the proactive funding projects from the systems and the documents also disappeared from the storage."
The NPA is currently assisting in the investigation of 26 dockets related to the NLC - where corruption is estimated to be at least R1.4 billion.