Two National Party politicians facing criminal investigation over alleged golf estate kickbacks today welcomed a raid on their homes by the Scorpions.
Scorpions’ representative Sipho Ngwema told media this morning that the elite unit looked for documents relevant to the investigation of charges of corruption from the homes of former Western Cape Premier and now backbench MP Peter Marais and former Western Cape environment minister David Malatsi.
Both Marais and Malatsi, who resigned as national deputy social development
minister last week, have been suspended by their party.
Welcoming the swoop, Malatsi said he had yesterday given instructions to his lawyer ”to offer cooperation and make available all my bank accounts. I hope others do the same.”
He said his wife’s bank account and business bank accounts had also been handed over. Malatsi was not at home when the raid occurred.
Peter Marais told SABC radio news shortly after his house was raided that
he was happy that the Scorpions were involved as they would carry out their
investigations ”on the basis of fact … not on a political agenda”.
He said he had nothing to do with the discussions surrounding the estate development and had never applied pressure on Malatsi over the deal. He also said he had received no money as a result of the deal.
The case involves an alleged R300 000 kickback — from Italian Count Ricardo Agusta to the NNP — linked to the Roodefontein golf estate development
near Plettenberg Bay.
A further R100 000 is alleged to have been paid into an account controlled by Malatsi and his secretary Claudina Meyer. – I-Net-Bridge