The Hawks confirm they are investigating Pule Paul Vecchiatto, 23 July 2013, 15:28 The Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation says it is investigating corruption charges against former communications minister Dina Pule Share Article: THE police’s Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation, also known as the Hawks, has confirmed it is investigating corruption charges against former communications minister Dina Pule. Democratic Alliance MP Marian Shinn said on Tuesday that she had received a letter from the Hawk’s director Lt-Gen Anwar Dramat saying the case had been transferred to the Serious Economic Offences Unit in Pretoria for investigation. Ms Shinn laid the charges at the Cape Town central police station in April in terms of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act. That law stipulates that any person who holds a position of authority and who knows or ought reasonably to have known or suspected that any other person has committed an offence has a duty to report it. She also laid charges against Ms Pule’s boyfriend Phosane Mngqibisa, suspended SABC chief financial officer Gugu Duda and group CEO of the SABC, Lulama Makhobo. Her allegations were mainly based on a story carried in the Sunday Times on March 24, titled "Fire her now, Mr President". That article alleged that the newspaper had "uncovered evidence of an internal audit showing that (Mr) Mngqibisa engineered getting friends and relatives on the boards of the Post Office, Sentech, Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa and the SABC with the full knowledge of (Ms) Pule". Mr Mngqibisa is allegedly romantically linked to Ms Pule. The Sunday Times article also alleged that Mr Mngqibisa had engineered the appointment of Ms Makhobo, his relative, to the post of SABC CEO and that of Ms Duda, his friend, as the public broadcaster’s chief financial officer. President Jacob Zuma fired Ms Pule in a Cabinet reshuffle two weeks ago. However, she remains a member of Parliament. Parliament issued a statement on Monday that its ethics committee would be releasing its findings on Ms Pule’s behaviour during the current term. However, no specific date has been set. The main focus of that investigation was the ICT Indaba held in June 2012, where R25m of sponsors’ funding allegedly disappeared. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on Monday evening that her office was nearing completion of at least two investigations involving Ms Pule. The first was about the chaos within the previous SABC board that led to Parliament replacing it with an interim board. The second is also related to the ICT Indaba.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 06:56:26 +0000
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