Staff Reporter.
The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture will continue to hear Transnet-related evidence from former Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, on Wednesday.
At the centre of the early proceedings at the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture on Wednesday was the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment (FICA) bill and how its proposed amendments were allegedly delayed so the Gupta family could launder money.
Former public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba, who is implicated in dodgy dealings with Gupta brothers Ajay,Atul and Rajesh, continued with his testimony at the commission once again on Wednesday, after appearing two days ago.
During proceedings, evidence leader advocate Anton Myburgh questioned Gigaba about his role as a member of both Cabinet and the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JSCP) cluster of ministers in the process of passing the Fica amendments.
The matter stemmed from former Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat’s affidavit which raised a number of issues about the Fica bill – including how former president Jacob Zuma’s Cabinet allegedly failed to question its constitutionality.
Myburgh said that in his affidavit Momoniat alleges that the JCSP cluster minsters made attempts to change, delay and stop the Fica bill, further stating this was in order for the Gupta brothers and their associates to launder money and open a bank.
The conclusion is that the failure to pass this bill would have been convenient for the Guptas and their associates’ attempts to launder money and in fact to buy a bank if it had been delayed, so that’s the conclusion, so I’m going ask Gigaba to comment on this,” Myburgh told commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
This is after Zondo asked why Gigaba, who gazetted the commencement dates of the bill when he was the minister of finance from March 2017 to February 2018, was being questioned on the matter.
The commission also heard how JSCP cluster chairperson Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula informed the Cabinet in a letter sent through Parliament that Section 45(B) 1C of the bill, which deals with warrantless searches and seizures, was unconstitutional.
However, Gigaba told the commission he had no recollection of the letter.
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Video Courtesy of SABC.