Former SSA boss probed for ‘suspicious transactions’ totalling R112m

Former State Security Agency director-general Sonto-Gladys Kudjoe is being investigated by the Hawks for corruption allegedly to the value of R112 million.

Suspicious transactions

As reported by the Sunday Times, a criminal case has now been opened against Kudjoe and transferred to the Hawks’ National Serious Corruption Investigation Unit to look into “temporary advances for operations sourced by her office”.

Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale said arrests would only be effected “as and when all evidence important to the investigation is concluded”, and when those involved in the case appear before the court.

It is alleged Kudjoe “changed budget control processes and moved a sizeable chunk to her office”. Moreover, “suspicious transactions” to the value of R112 million between March 2014 and April 2016 were flagged.

Kudjoe’s brazenness is ‘jolting’

SSA head of internal control Teboho George Ramokhele submitted two affidavits during initial investigations, in which an unnamed witness known only as Ms K accused Kudjoe of corruption.

Ramokhlele said in the statement: “The figure [R112 million] is unprecedented and the brazenness from her office in handling the cash jolting”.

Back in 2017, Kudjoe had handed an affidavit to then state security minister David Mahlobo, claiming the Principal Agent Network (PAN) set up by Arthur Fraser had overseen alleged illegal activities by members “without securing proper authorisation”.

Kudjoe’s tenure at SSA

In an affidavit dated 2014, Kudjoe reportedly showed that an audit of the PAN project, which Fraser set up in the later 2000s, “indicated a possibility of theft, fraud, and forgery of an amount exceeding R200 million”.

Kudjoe – who served as SA’s ambassador to Sweden and Egypt – stepped down as SSA director-general “by mutual agreement to pursue other opportunities” in August 2016, three years after being appointed.

The intelligence agency went through a major shake-up three years prior to Kudjoe’s departure, when former SSA Director-General Jeff Maqetuka, along with the head of domestic intelligence Gibson Njenje and head of foreign intelligence Moe Shaik staged a joint walkout, after allegedly being told to stop a Gupta probe.

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