By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebne has told the section 194 inquiry probing her fitness to hold office that there was no evidence that the campaign funding received by Presidenct Cyril Ramaphosa in 2017 was the proceeds of crime.
Mkhwebane says her money-laundering finding was based on the fact that there was a movement of money between the CR17 accounts.
The Public Protector does, however, admit she used the wrong law to make prima facie money-laundering findings against Ramaphosa.
The Constitutional Court found that:
“Having interpreted the PCCA, the Public Protector concluded that it criminalises corrupt activities and other forms of organised and financial crimes including money laundering. But as the High Court rightly pointed out, the PCCA does not create the crime of money laundering.
“Before us, counsel for the Public Protector attempted to explain this as the innocent reference to the incorrect Act. There is no merit in this submission. The report quotes extensively from the provisions of the PCCA which the Public Protector interpreted to be criminalising financial crimes including money laundering.
“This illustrates plainly that she misconstrued the PCCA. In fact, a reading of the report shows that she equated money laundering to corruption and bribery.”
The public protector argued she did not overstep her mandate by issuing remedial actions for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), former National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise, and the national commissioner of the South African Police Service (Saps) in her report.
In the CR17 report, Mkhwebane ordered National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) advocate Shamila Batohi and the police commissioner to investigate possible money laundering around Ramaphosa’s campaign and report back to her with an implementation within 30 days.
The public protector also ordered Modise to instruct Parliament’s Ethics Committee to investigate Ramaphosa for failing to declare the donations to his campaign.
Mkhwebane maintained that she did not have the jurisdiction to investigate criminal conduct, like money laundering, hence the referral to the authorities.
“We couldn’t just ignore the fact that the money was paid into an account and it moved from one account to another,” she said.
“I was not finding any person guilty, I was just saying there is evidence, and NPA, this is your constitutional mandate, can you look into the matter?”
The public protector said her referral was not different to the actions of her predecessor Thuli Madonsela, when she ordered that then Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng appoint the judge who would preside over the State Capture Commission.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.