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Head of the Directorate of Investigations of the NPA, lawyer Hermione Cronje.
- The NPA Investigations Directorate will recruit investigators from the Zondo commission at the end of the month.
- It should help “achieve rapid results in priority cases,” according to Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.
- This is possible after the Zondo commission regulations were amended in July.
In order to “achieve rapid results in priority cases,” the Investigative Directorate of the National Prosecutor’s Office (NPA) will hire investigators from the Zondo Survey Commission at the end of September.
This can be done because the commission’s regulations were amended in July to allow its investigators to work in other state enforcement agencies.
At the time, the director of the directorate, advocate Hermione Cronje, described it as a moral boost that will speed up investigations.
In a written parliamentary question to Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, DA deputy Werner Horn asked what steps the Investigations Directorate has taken to accelerate its investigations and prosecutions of crimes related to the Zondo commission since the regulation was amended.
“Corruption in this country has imposed severe costs. We are continually stepping up our fight against corruption to ensure economic recovery, achieve better services with taxpayers’ money, and restore trust around the world,” reads the response from Lamola.
He added that the modification to the regulation “has given a significant boost to the work of the Investigative Directorate.”
“The Directorate of Investigations (ID), from its inception, has been paralyzed by the inability to hire its own investigators; in part because the 2008 amendments to the NPA Act eliminated the position of special investigator from the NPA.”
The amendment allows the commission to share information, records or documents directly with the ID.
On August 7, the NPA and the commission signed a protocol to regulate the exchange of information between the two entities.
This means that where the commission’s work and identification overlap, the identification can obtain information on the lines of investigation already pursued by the commission, even though this evidence has not yet been presented in public hearings.
“Access to this information and evidence will avoid duplication of effort and significantly shorten investigations pending identification,” Lamola said.
Since the amendment, the commission has already made its digital forensic capabilities available for identification in two of its priority investigations.
This cooperation also includes the hiring of commission investigators.
“Investigators from the State Capture Commission will be hired for the identification, as early as the end of September 2020, when the commission expects to conclude its investigations.
“The urgent recruitment is to achieve rapid results in priority cases that the ID is already investigating by incorporating people with the necessary skill and capacity, who already have a substantial knowledge and understanding of the issues,” reads Lamola’s response .
“A working group, among other key initiatives, will prepare a recommendation for the National Director of the Public Ministry, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and the Minister of Finance, specifying the terms and conditions of employment for people with the ability, experience and expertise to be designated to prosecute in specific cases in terms of Section 38 of the NPA.
