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The National Lottery Commission is not happy with the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ebrahim Patel. (Photo: Phill Magakoe / Gallo Images via Getty Images)
The scandal-ridden National Lottery Commission appears to be trying to block a corruption investigation into a multi-million dollar Lottery-funded project in Pretoria.
First published by Ground
Lawyers for the National Lottery Commission (NLC) have threatened to take the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, to court. They want me to turn over a file on alleged corruption involving a dubious Lottery-funded project that was turned over to the Hawks for investigation.
the dossier it was compiled by Patel-appointed investigators after several previous investigations commissioned by the NLC had cleared the organization and members of its staff of any wrongdoing.
Patel has ministerial oversight of the NLC, which has been the subject of continuous revelations corruption and mismanagement involving multi-million dollar grants.
The file involves Denzhe Primary Care, a hijacked non-profit organization that was used to successfully apply for grants totaling R27.5 million to build a drug rehabilitation center near Pretoria. The center is not yet complete and more than 20 million rand is unknown.
Independent investigators have completed investigations into three other Lottery-funded projects, but they have not yet been turned over to law enforcement.
the NLC letter – marked “Extremely Urgent” – was sent to Patel on November 11 and gave him 24 hours to respond. If he did not meet the deadline, the letter threatened to request a court order for him to deliver all the documentation in the file.
The NLC attorney also required Patel a written commitment that the record would not be used to remove the NLC board “until our client has had the opportunity to study” and seek legal advice “on how to assert his constitutional rights. , including the right to submit the findings of the report for judicial review in the higher court if they are advised to do so ”.
The letter also requires Patel to provide “a complete forensic investigation report along with the folder of any evidence and / or documents in support of the findings.”
It is unclear if Patel met the tight deadline imposed by the NLC. But a well-informed source with knowledge of the matter said that lawyers acting on behalf of the minister have responded to the lawsuit.
Arguing that his client’s constitutional rights had been violated because they had not been granted the right to respond, attorney MJ Maluleke wrote: “In essence, you have condemned our client to easy ducks awaiting the arrival of law enforcement authorities to subdue them. to an investigation. based on a report that they have never seen or committed to. This arbitrary conduct on your part is detrimental to the constitutional rights of our client. “
The NLC had unsuccessfully engaged with the minister and his office to determine “the terms of reference and scope of such an investigation,” which are still “unknown to our client,” Maluleke wrote.
The first time the NLC learned that the file had been turned over to the Hawks was during a virtual session of the portfolio committee of the Department of Commerce, Industry and Competition (DTIC) on September 2, 2020, Maluleke said.
During the meeting, DTIC Director General Lionel October provided a general summary of the investigation and also confirmed that the file had been turned over to the police for investigation.
“The president of the NLC [Alfred Nevhutanda] and the commissioner [Thabang Mampane] Those who were in that meeting were surprised by the presentation of the Director General, since it was the first time they had come across this information, ”said Maluleke. DM
