OUTA in court to pressure Hawks into investigating PRASA

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) presented its case in court today to intervene in an application to force the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to do their jobs in investigating and prosecuting the corrupt activities in PRASA.

Both PRASA and the Hawks also presented their arguments to the court which then postponed the matter to 4 May for judgement.

“We are looking forward to the outcome as our case in this matter was well researched and received very little opposition,” said Stefani Fick, OUTA’s Head of Legal.

Last year, OUTA applied to intervene in a case brought by the PRASA chairman Popo Molefe against the Hawks and NPA, aimed at forcing the law-enforcement institutions to investigate corruption within PRASA. OUTA supports the PRASA chairman and wants to intervene to ensure this investigation is completed so that prosecution takes place.

Investigations by the Public Protector and the PRASA board found substantial problems with contracts awarded by then CEO Lucky Montana. Montana spent close to R5.4 billion of taxpayer’s money from 2009 to 2013 on contracts handed to the Siyangena and Swifambo companies.

Read more about the case here.