Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) President Julius Malema has accused Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan of having an illegal bank account in a North American country which has a balance of more than R600 million.
The red berets leader says the Minister acquired the bulk of the money through political favours. This is according to a charge sheet penned by the EFF that details five charges against Gordhan and a further two charges against his daughter, Anisha Gordhan handed over to the Brooklyn Police Station this week.
Malema has accused Ghordhan of contravention of the Intelligence act, the contravention of the prevention and combating of corrupt activities act, racketeering and/or money laundering, fraud and perjury as charges one, two, three, four and five respectively.
The EFF leadership comprising of the party’s deputy president Floyd Shivambu and EFF secretary general Godrich Gardee opened the cases against Gordhan and his daughter at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Some of the charges held in the EFF document, which labels Gordhan as accused number one and his daughter accused number two, were that that between 2009 and 2014 the minster formed or participated in the formation of an unauthorised and unlawful intelligence gathering unit of SARS (also known as the rogue unit).
“He, knowingly, caused the said rogue unit to spy on taxpayers, politicians belonging to the ruling party and other political parties, businesspersons and other citizens,” the document read as charge 1.2.
In charge two, the EFF allegations refers to state capture and Gordhan’s alleged failure to report corrupt activities.
In the third charge of racketeering and money laundering, the document claimed that with corrupt intent, Gordhan opened and operated an unlawful foreign bank account held in Canada and ordered various taxpayers to deposit large amounts of money into the said account in exchange for favours, which were to the detriment of the fiscus and the South African public.
The EFF alleges that Gordhan unlawfully and intentionally committed fraud in relation to charge 3.
The last charge accused him of lying under oath in respect of his meetings with the Guptas, lying under oath regarding his financial dealings in Canada and lying under oath regarding the unlawful activities of his daughter.
Gordhan’s daughter, named as accused number two, faces two charges – one of fraud and another of corruption – both relating to her work with Investec.
In the document, the EFF claims the following evidence will be supplied to the investigating officers.
• Sikhakhane panel report
• Banking details
• Confidential statements of key witnesses
• Gordhan’s affidavit meant for the Zondo commission and the transcript of Gordhan’s testimony at the commission.
Addressing a crowd of red berets outside of the police station, Malema said all evidence was supplied to the police and that he would make available a list of people who would testify that they had deposited money into the Canadian bank account in exchange for political favours from Gordhan.
“We gave the evidence to the police about the crimes committed by Pravin since 1999 until 2014 including the account he opened in Canada while he was still in SARS,” Malema said.
Meanwhile, Malema and the Limpopo EFF leadership addressed miners at a manifesto consultation assembly in Polokwane, Limpopo over the weekend.
He urged miners to embrace unity among all Limpopo residents to avoid falling into the trap of tribalism especially while plying their trade in the mines.
He was hosting the event to listen to the concerns of residents of mining towns in his home province.
This comes after the unveiling of the new Mining Charter by Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe last month which takes such communities into consideration.
Mineworkers and Zama Zama’s [illegal mineworkers] were given the chance to express their concerns during the consultation which includes the working conditions of miners and mine operations disrupting school days due to blasting.
