Special Investigating Unit Presentation to Parliament - 5 June 2002 Willie Hofmeyr Head: SIU

Mission Statement Mission Statement The SIU is committed to providing the highest quality professional forensic investigation and litigation service to all state institutions at national, provincial and local levels The activities of the SIU are designed effectively to combat maladministration, corruption and fraud involving state institutions and to protect state assets and public money

Advantages of SIU Unique role – it is the only institution that uses the civil law to recover money or assets Can do whole process – from investigation to final litigation Need not prove case beyond a reasonable doubt, only on a balance of probabilities In civil law a negligent or even innocent misrepresentation is sufficient, unlike criminal fraud where state has to prove subjective intent

Effective and economic investigations Provides forensic investigations at no additional cost to government Can match almost all private sector services at about a third of the cost Provide a proper completed investigation since it has full investigative powers and members can take proper affidavits After private investigations reports usually need to be backed by proper evidence leading to delays

(Cont) Also assist with the investigation and prosecution of the criminal matter alleviating the resource constraints in the criminal justice system Special Tribunal speed up litigation as opposed to the lengthy delays that may occur in other courts

Building Partnerships SIU sees its main role as working with government Occasionally this is difficult or even impossible – eg when a senior official is investigated the department may resist investigation

It is vital to build partnerships with the various government departments that have the need for ongoing investigations Sensible to spend some of the funds going to the private sector on working with the SIU and building its capacity Means more economic and effective investigations And building capacity in the state that will be permanently available to fight corruption

OVERVIEW PERIOD TO 31 JULY 2001 Generally this period was marked by much uncertainty

The SAAPIL judgment The Constitutional Court ruled in November 2000 in the SA Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (SAAPIL) matter that a judge could not head SIU The State was given a year in which to remedy the situation The head of the SIU, former judge Willem Heath, subsequently took long leave, and later resigned to take up a position in the private sector.

Henning audit Minister of Justice requested the NDPP to carry out a due diligence audit Jan Henning SC was appointed and did an excellent report – owe him a debt of gratitude Critical of some aspects of the work of SIU Concluded though that SIU did extremely valuable work, had unique powers to combat corruption and had skilled staff that could play a vital role in the fight against corruption Recommended SIU to continue with work

Consequences of uncertainty About one third of all staff members left for other positions, incl many investigators and lawyers Henning audit was vital for the future most staff were involved in preparing material for the audit, little investigative or legal work could be done in the period from March to July 2001 No new cases were referred to the SIU resulting in much time being spent on very old cases with little prospect of visible results

(cont) Lack of a head aggravated the situation – although management committee did excellent job under trying circumstances Uncertainty lead to amendments to the Act required for the efficient functioning not being processed, and this had a further debilitating effect on the ability of the SIU to perform its functions

OVERVIEW PERIOD AFTER JULY 2001 After appointment of new head Immediate steps were taken to address the problems outlined above, A 10 point strategy was developed with the management of the SIU to put it “back in business” as one of the premier corruption fighting institutions

1. Creating certainty about the future of the SIU Major challenges to create certainty about the future of the SIU for its staff Largely addressed by Henning audit endorsed by Minister Appointment of a new head made government’s commitment to the SIU clear Regular meetings with Minister and NDPP DPSA strategy recognises role of SIU

2. Referring new cases New cases vital to address the morale, and a visible gesture that it was “back in business” Several new cases referred and others approved in principle and in the process

3. Filling vacancies Immediate priority was to fill 40 vacancies since this impacted seriously on its capacity Successfully concluded by the end of 2001 It was encouraging that a significant number of those who had left were willing to apply for the vacant positions once there was greater certainty about the future of the SIU

4. Improving representivity Employment equity plan is in place plus employment equity forum A major focus of the recruitment drive was to improve the representivity, especially at a management level Challenge in financial investigations, but achieved good progress

5. Ensure Competitive Salaries Priority to re-evaluate the salary structure of the SIU to ensure it can compete for best skills Proposal submitted to Minister

6. Promoting greater efficiency Henning audit identified delays as problem Restructured SIU on a project management approach Successful in introducing clearer time frames and greater accountability

7. Legal changes to improve effectiveness Effectiveness of SIU severely affected by a number of judgements In addition, the present process is ineffective Adv Wim Trengove SC briefed for advice on possible amendments, as well as on related constitutional issues Minister proposes to table in Parliament in the second half of the year

8. Establishing national presence Previously SIU based in East London with teams focussed on each province Decided that it would be more effective to establish a national presence Pretoria office set up, small offices in Durban, Umtata

9. Improved cooperation with law enforcement A special effort has been made to improve cooperation with other law enforcement agencies to ensure effective criminal action where evidence is available indicating a criminal offence With resource constraints in the criminal justice system, not sufficient simply to refer matters to the police or NPA since there may not always be the capacity to deal with them adequately

Made investigators available to assist the police in compiling dockets that are court- ready Eg Nontenja prosecution in Umtata where the SIU investigator prepared docket and will assist in court during the prosecution Bisho massacre: SIU investigators assisted with leading evidence and tracing witnesses Exciting development is that NDPP is prepared to give delegations to experienced lawyers in the SIU to do the actual prosecution in cases investigated by the SIU

10. Building partnerships with government Already covered

Notable cases Nontenja – Umtata attorney who defrauded state attorney of R19m - Prosecution about to commence Lead to wider investigation of work of state attorney with DoJ Witness Protection Program (KZN) investigation of widespread corruption by officials of the WPP in conjunction with NPS, DSO and SAPS

Cases KZN Tare Weight investigation of fraudulently reduced licence weights of vehicles resulting in losses of millions Limpopo investigation of all drivers licences issued since 1994 in cooperation with Dept of Transport

Housing investigation Massive investigations of all state subsidies granted in Gauteng, KZN and N Cape – valuable lessons learnt Included are several conveyancers entrusted with housing money, incl Mfeka, Mlaba Mkaya, Mvelase Discussing a permanent national project with Minister of Housing Univ Natal Law Clinic to assist small victims

Administrative aspects Excellent administration and financial controls PFMA compliant Good use of information technology Serious about training – eg CBT

Thank you