Big business offers to help prosecutors pursue state capture culprits

Corporate SA is offering the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) additional resources to pursue people and entities named in the state capture inquiry report.

Cas Coovadia, CEO of Business Unity SA (Busa), also said they want to know how businesses implicated in the report will clean house.

The Busa board held an urgent meeting this week to discuss acting chief justice and inquiry chair Raymond Zondo's report, and called on the criminal justice system to ensure speedy investigations and prosecutions.

“We will co-ordinate initiatives by our members into a serious and concerted mechanism to provide necessary resources to the NPA to urgently prepare cases to prosecute those identified in the report. Such resources could include private prosecutors and other relevant assistance,” said Coovadia.

“We will engage the NPA about this.”

This comes after NPA boss Shamila Batohi said late last year that the extent and nature of state capture corruption required additional and specialised skills and capacities.

The first of Zondo’s three-phase findings focused on SAA and related companies, the Gupta-owned The New Age newspaper, the SA Revenue Service and public procurement.

The Busa board, said Coovadia, also intends to engage with businesses mentioned in the report “to get a full briefing from those businesses about the allegations and to understand what actions those businesses intend taking.

“The board was clear that business must use the report for very serious introspection and develop a position that reflects serious consideration of the involvement of businesses in the state capture saga.”

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