Acting Hawks head confirms investigation into #GuptaEmails

Acting head of the Hawks Lieutenant-General Yolisa Matakata has revealed that the police unit does not have the full cache of the controversial leaked Gupta emails that have received wide media coverage.

However, Matakata has told eNCA in an exclusive interview that the priority crimes unit was treating the leaked emails – implicating President Jacob Zuma’s business associates and his son, Duduzane, in state capture and corruption – as genuine.

“We’ve never seen the actual emails that reference is made of in the emails, but we have information that speaks to some of these emails,” Matakata said.

She confirmed to the broadcaster that the Hawks were investigating charges linked to specific media reports about some of the leaked Gupta emails.

“With us getting that kind of information, we have to work with it. And therefore it’s through this work that we are doing, where you need to go to the various alleged departments involved or SOEs or whoever else is involved to start verifying by getting original information,” she said.

There has been a groundswell of public anger over the delay by law-enforcement agencies, such as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) – better known as the Hawks – to investigate the damning allegations of state capture contained in the emails.

In a recent protest action, veteran members of the United Democratic Front, the Right2Know campaign and #UniteBehind picketed outside the offices of the NPA in Cape Town demanding that action be taken against individuals involved in corruption.

Matakata said the Hawks investigators started investigating state capture claims long before the office of the public protector did. She said her team had spoken to, among other people, former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas and former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor.

She also denied the Hawks were “captured”, and said she understood the frustrations of many citizens regarding those implicated facing prosecution.

“It’s not easy to operate within this perception that we are captured … Hence we are really making an effort to show that, at the end, people might be taken to court,” said Matakata.

“If we go to court just by mere allegations that come to us, again we’ll be embarrassed, because the cases will be thrown out of court,” she added.

ALSO READ:

//