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Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is expected to appear before the Tshwane Magistrates Court on January 21 next year to answer the perjury charges. Image: Jan Gerber / News24
NEWS
The National Tax Authority (NPA) has decided to charge the Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane with perjury.
According to a copy of the subpoena seen by City Press, Mkhwebane is expected to appear before the Tshwane Magistrates Court on January 21 next year to answer the charges.
The decision to prosecute was made by the Director of the Public Ministry, Sibongile Mzinyathi, on August 31. The subpoena was issued Tuesday.
NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said: “In fact, the Director of Public Prosecution made the decision to prosecute after carefully evaluating the evidence presented by the Hawks. This is in line with the prosecution policy and the law ”.
The charges were based on the Constitutional Court’s findings in the dispute over costs between the Reserve Bank of South Africa and the Office of the Public Protector, in which Mkhwebane had appealed the previous High Court ruling in Tshwane.
Head of Accountability Now Paul Hoffman said Mkhwebane had lied under oath in her affidavit, as the higher court had found that she had “presented a number of falsehoods.” Hoffman opened a perjury case and defeated the ends of justice.
The Director of the Public Ministry made the decision to prosecute after carefully evaluating the evidence presented by the Hawks. This is in line with the processing policy and the law.
Sipho ngwema
In a dissenting minority judgment, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng concluded that “the judgment of the High Court should have been set aside because not only was there no evidence of harm, but the requirements for defining the basic personal costs of gross negligence and bad faith was not demonstrated or known ”.
Mkhwebane told City Press in an interview last week that she was wary of the possibility that she might soon be charged with perjury so that President Cyril Ramaphosa could suspend her, saying the charges were part of a campaign to remove her from office.
According to the charge sheet, “Perjury is a common law crime in South Africa [and] it is the illegal and intentional realization of a false statement in the cause of a judicial process by a person who has taken an oath or has made an affirmation before, or has been admonished by someone competent to administer or accept the oath, affirmation or warning ”.
According to charge one of the charge sheet, Mkhwebane is alleged to have lied about meeting former President Jacob Zuma during the investigation on one occasion on April 25, 2017, “knowing that the statement was false.”
Read: Mkhwebane fears perjury accusation
Under count two, Mkhwebane is alleged to have stated in his appeal documents that he also met with Zuma on April 7, 2017, “and that his purpose was to [former] President’s response to the interim report, knowing that the stated purpose was not the correct one ”.
According to the third charge, allegedly “it was stated that he did not discuss the final report / new corrective action with [Zuma] on June 7, 2017 knowing that it was not true ”.
In 2010, a complaint was made to the Public Protector’s office regarding a report by CIEX, an asset recovery company in the UK, and a subsequent investigation by the Special Investigation Unit related to money owed by Absa and other companies to the Reserve Bank. The debt originated in the so-called “lifeboat” loan agreement between the Reserve Bank and the now defunct Bankorp that was absorbed by Absa.
Mkhwebane found that SA Revenue Services failed to recover funds totaling R1.125 billion from Absa.
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