The National Prosecuting Authority has successfully confiscated assets worth R1.7bn from cases referred to it by the SIU since 2002.
According to advocate Priya Biseswar, the figure could have been more but the Special Investigating Unit proceeded with its own civil recovery.
Biseswar was speaking alongside NPA head Shamila Batohi as well as deputy director of public prosecutions, advocate Rodney de Kock, during a NPA briefing in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Biseswar told the standing committee on public accounts that of the 1,515 cases referred to it by the SIU, it had seized 48 assets amounting to R1.7bn and obtained 70 preservation orders worth R4.7bn.
More than 1,098 cases are still under investigation.
“Many referrals from the SIU has no or very little asset forfeiture potential due to the SIU proceeding with civil litigation.
“Referral processes require substantial criminal investigation which impacts on the Asset Forfeiture Unit proceeding with recovery,” Biseswar said.
Batohi said the revised memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the SIU, NPA and the SA Police Service, particularly the Hawks, was important in streamlining investigations so that all law enforcement agencies were kept updated with matters under investigation.
“There is an MoU, signed in 2017, but because of the tripartite agreement, do not meet the criminal standards and matters are sent to the DPCI [Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation] to investigate.
“All three must sign the MoU to be clear on referral process. We're still waiting on our colleagues form SAPS to finalise the matter in terms of process because that's where confusion is and things falls through the cracks.
“The NPA is working on a database to collect all referrals in one space between the DPCI, SIU and NPA to have a clear understanding of where cases are at all times. There are discrepancies in these figures,” Batohi said.
De Kock said the quest was to enhance collaboration with all law enforcement agencies, particularly with the work the SIU does in terms of case referrals.
“It's important to remember, the work referred to NPA nationally is then referred to various divisions of the NPA in the country. There's a formal referral of SIU cases. These are then referred to a director of public prosecutions who engages with the directorate for commercialised crime unit within that particular division and also the directorate of priority crimes investigations.
“This long-winded way of referring matters is at the heart of challenges that we face with the management of SIU investigations and prosecutions.
“The methodology we follow is that once a referral is received in a division, there needs to be a case management meeting with the DPCI investigator and prosecutor and jointly plan on how best to take matter forward.
“As it progresses, this is when the matter of different information arises because you'll find investigation leads to more suspects, more charges or a point where a decision is made that there isn't sufficient evidence to prosecute,” he said.
During the meeting, DA MP Alf Lees commended the work done by the various agencies, adding it could not be classified as poor.
However, Lees said, South Africans were looking for successful prosecutions and convictions relating to high-level cases.
“While it's important to understand processes that are followed, the reality is we’re not seeing the successful prosecutions and convictions that generally are believed to be the faces of corruption,” Lees said.
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