New Age2.png State capture probe fizzles Bonolo Selebano, The New Age, Johannesburg, 1 June 2016 The ANC's much vaunted probe into allegations against the Gupta family and state capture has come to nought. Addressing a media briefing following the party's national executive committee meeting this past weekend, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said that as a consequence of a lack of written or oral evidence, the party had to close the probe. "The ANC created an avenue to probe the allegations against the Gupta family and state capture. Only eight people came forward with only one person submitting a written submission. "The allegations (against the Gupta family) were quite serious. They cannot be treated lightly and many warrant a comprehensive investigation. The low number of submissions made the exercise fruitless," Mantashe said. According to Mantashe the NEC has now urged people who want to pursue the allegations to approach state institutions like the SAPS, the public protector or other Chapter Nine institutions with their complaints. He said: "People who thought it is too risky to come to the ANC, they must go to the SAPS or Chapter Nine institutions. "When they don't come forward to the ANC, the ANC will not force them. It doesn't mean that we are walking away from it, but if you make allegations then you must be bold enough to take (the matter) through. "The discussion of the ANC on state capture is going to continue for a long time," he said. "If people had raised the matter in order to benefit the ANC, they would not mind becoming casualties. Those who feared for their safety were only doing it for their own interests. We cannot push people with clay feet. We will continue monitoring the situation." Mantashe also said that the ANC was forced to look into the decision by the country's big four banks to close the accounts of the Gupta-owned Oakbay group of companies. He said that the decision created a perception that there was collusion by banks when they made the decision. "As a country, we must look into what looks like collusion. We also need to look into the impact it (the decision) has on employment. Banks are regulated. Any non-compliant actions can be traced. We find it strange that the accounts were closed without reasons. "We can never allow injustice to be exercised under the guise of regulation," Mantashe said. Mantashe also said that the executive committee did not know whether political pressure influenced the banks' decision. The New Age asked the Competition Commission if Mantashe's comments would be of interest in terms of the mandate of the commission to investigate collusive and anticompetitive practices but no reply was received by yesterday evening. An expert with knowledge of the issue said it was not necessary for a complaint to be laid with the Competition Commission in order for it to be investigated. In relation to any possible inquiry that may be initiated, the person said that banks, unlike any other company, were in a unique position in that Minister in the Presidency Ibrahim Patel could take over an investigation from the commission and instead ask the Treasury to investigate. This is because of the importance of banks to the economy. The Treasury said yesterday it had no comment. Political analyst Levy Ndou took note of the "degree of openness and transparency" that the ANC displayed in instituting a probe in to the Gupta family's alleged influence over the state. "While everyone was worried about the Gupta's influence over the state, the ANC said let everybody give evidence and people were given enough time to prove their allegations," he said. He said of the family's alleged influence over the state, in the absence of "tangible" evidence that "without evidence one wonders if these were just rumours or mudslinging against the family". [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/01062016/epaperpdf/1.pdf -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
