Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane wants Pravin Gordhan's bank records as part of a fresh investigation into the department of public enterprises.
Her probe follows a complaint by EFF second-in-command Floyd Shivambu, who claims Gordhan breached Cabinet's executive code of ethics by appointing a forensic company to conduct investigations inside his department. However, it is unclear what the basis of the complaint is, or whether a prima facie case has been made.
Sunday Times has reliably learnt that Mkhwebane has written to several banks demanding all documentation relating to the accounts of Gordhan, his director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi, Abacus Financial Crime Advisory's managing partner Mohammed Cassim, and those of the company from April last year to April this year.
The move follows a long history of vexatious accusations against Gordhan by the EFF and the public protector.
Mkhwebane has had a series of run-ins with Gordhan in court, which resulted in adverse court judgments against her and her office. She suffered two setbacks in court involving Gordhan in cases related to the South African Revenue Service (Sars).
In 2019 Mkhwebane lost a court battle relating to her report on the bank records of President Cyril Ramaphosa's CR17 election campaign. The report was declared invalid and set aside, with the Constitutional Court also dismissing her appeal recently.
The campaign's financial records were sealed by the court after Ramaphosa argued they had been illegally obtained by Mkhwebane. An attempt by the EFF to have them unsealed was also recently dismissed.
This week, her office confirmed the latest investigation to the Sunday Times, but would not confirm that Mkhwebane has subpoenaed banks to provide Gordhan's personal bank records.
In her subpoenas Mkhwebane wants the banks to reveal all the transactions including deposit slips and transfers of funds as she investigates allegations that Gordhan and Tlhakudi irregularly approved the R281,168 appointment of Abacus.
The Sunday Times understands that she wants to establish whether there was any impropriety on the part of Gordhan, Tlhakudi or the Abacus directors.
The investigation covers issues such as the alleged irregular appointment of Ms Nthabiseng Borotho as chief of staff and the alleged irregular appointment of Abacus Financial Crime Advisory to investigate public servants suspected of leaking information about the appointment of Ms Borotho
— PP spokesperson Oupa Segalwe
Public protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said the investigation was the result of Shivambu's complaint in November.
"The investigation covers issues such as the alleged irregular appointment of Ms Nthabiseng Borotho as chief of staff and the alleged irregular appointment of Abacus Financial Crime Advisory to investigate public servants suspected of leaking information about the appointment of Ms Borotho," said Segalwe.
Cassim did not respond to several calls and messages.
Public enterprises spokesperson Richard Mantu said Mkhwebane had written to the department on May 18 asking for a response to allegations of Abacus's irregular appointment. "The department on June 30 2021 provided the PP with a comprehensive set of documents to disprove the notion that the appointment of Abacus was irregular," Mantu said. "The department's appointment of Abacus followed prescribed supply chain management and statutory processes."
He said there was no reason for Gordhan to be involved in supply chain matters.
"The minister has no relationship with either Abacus or Mr Cassim. As a matter of principle, the minister never involves himself in any supply chain processes," he said.
Abacus was appointed in October last year following a request for quotations from the department's panel of investigators and was recommended to Tlhakudi on October 8 by a special committee after Abacus scored the highest points.
Documents seen by the Sunday Times show there were three out of seven companies from the panel of investigators which responded to the request.
Independent Media last year quoted whistleblowers as claiming that Gordhan had irregularly appointed Borotho, who was allegedly underqualified and not suitable for the R1.2m-a-year job.
Gordhan's office dismissed the claims, saying he had applied to the minister of public service and administration, "in respect of the tertiary qualification requirement", in order to appoint Borotho based on her experience in public service.
Subsequent to the leak, Abacus was appointed to "establish whether there was a release of secure or private/confidential information to the media, collect evidence to fully understand the scale and the impact of the breach, identify the source of the data leak ... and provide recommendations on the outcome of the investigations".
Sunday Times' attempts to get comment from Shivambu were unsuccessful.
Shivambu and his political party have clashed with Gordhan over the years. The EFF claimed Gordhan had opened and operated, with corrupt intent, "an unlawful bank account in Canada". This was proven to be false as no such account existed.
Gordhan has himself laid charges of crimen injuria and criminal defamation against Shivambu and EFF leader Julius Malema after a scathing attack in 2018.
At the time Malema called Gordhan "corrupt", "a dog of white monopoly capital" and claimed that he hated black people. But Gordhan's case was dismissed with costs by the Equality Court which found that the case was a "dimension of political contestation".
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.