Some MPs are having sleepless nights waiting to discover whether they are included on a list from which they would definitely want to be omitted.
A list of parliamentarians implicated in the R13-million “Travelgate” travel voucher scam is expected to be placed before Parliament by the Scorpion investigators next week. The charge sheets against seven travel agents arrested last Wednesday left little doubt that some MPs are also involved.
“We are waiting. We are talking [with the Scorpions],” Speaker Baleka Mbete told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday.
Clearly unhappy about the shadow the travel scam has cast over Parliament, Mbete said: “There have been weaknesses. Our focus is on correcting them.”
Parliament’s Secretary, Zingile Dingani, and the deputy presiding officers have been instructed to look at “weaknesses in the system” and revise current policy.
The Scorpions list will be the fourth generated in relation to the scam. It all started in early 2003 when Parliament’s financial department discovered discrepancies on travel vouchers such as different handwriting and the replacement of computer-issued air tickets with handwritten ones for higher values.
The first list featured the names of about 130 MPs whose vouchers were found by Parliament’s finance section not to be in order.
A second list of MPs — those unable to explain incongruities — was subsequently compiled. It is understood that this list gave rise to a meeting in July 2003 between then speaker Frene Ginwala and about 60 MPs who were advised to repay any owed monies.
At that stage Parliament had laid criminal charges against six travel agencies, one of which was being liquidated. A second agency opposed liquidation, while another is in the midst of such proceedings.
A third list has now emerged as details of the scam have come out in various liquidation hearings. However, none but the first list is final.
In recent weeks various MPs from across the party political spectrum have been named in connection with the scam. The crux will be proof of who had knowingly participated and who negligently flouted parliamentary rules by, for example, not completing travel vouchers in full, a practice which emerged as widespread.
There have been several bizarre turns in the saga. Earlier this year, one of the implicated travel agencies, Business and Executive Travel, laid a complaint about the way the public protector conducted the criminal investigation. That complaint is on ice for now.
Parliament, which last year was sued by one of the implicated agencies for stopping payments following the criminal charges, is now suing to recover R2,5-million from that agency. And in various liquidation hearings, travel agents have pointed fingers at MPs.
Questions are being raised in some circles about why Parliament has not hauled errant MPs before a disciplinary committee for contravening parliamentary travel regulations. In November the ethics committee dismissed a complaint against African National Congress MP Danny Olifant that he had financial interests in one of the implicated travel agencies.
But Parliament has instituted disciplinary proceedings in the past. In September 2003 ANC MP Bheki Ntuli was found guilty of travel voucher misuse. In 2001 two other ANC MPs, John Ncinane and Khatliso Moeketsi, were publicly reprimanded.
On Wednesday Parliament’s presiding officers met party leaders and chief whips to discuss the travel scam. Although Mbete had received a forensic audit on Monday, it was not made public, and she postponed a scheduled media briefing indefinitely.
“As far as the list of those implicated is concerned, that matter firmly remains in the hands of the investigators,” said Dingani in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
“The presiding officers are concerned that this matter is sub judice and therefore they do not want to comment any further.”
Graft barometer
February 1995 — Allan Boesak forced to withdraw from an ambassadorial posting while police investigate charges that he misappropriated aid money. He is found guilty of theft and fraud in 1999 and sentenced to prison.
February 1996 — Minister of welfare Abe Williams is accused of accepting bribes and resigns from the Cabinet. In 2000, he is convicted on multiple counts of corruption and serves one year of a three-year prison sentence.
March 1999 — The Sunday Times reveals that Home Affairs director general Albert Mokoena is using his office to run a professional basketball team without approval. He later resigns after being found guilty of misconduct.
September 1999 — The South African government announces the strategic arms procurement package. PAC MP Patricia de Lille expresses concerns about corruption in the deal. Hearings into the deal will not begin until May 2001.
March 2001 — The Sunday Times reports that Tony Yengeni, ANC chief whip and former chair of the defence committee, received a substantial discount on a Mercedes Benz from an arms deal bidder. In October, he is arrested and resigns from Parliament. In March 2003, he receives a four-year sentence for defrauding Parliament, which he appeals.
July 2001 — The M&G reveals that former minister of defence Joe Modise’s luxury home was being built by Denel, a state-owned arms manufacturer.
November 2002 — The M&G report that the mysterious “Mr X” who is being investigated by the Scorpions for accepting a R500 000 rand bribe from a defence firm bidding on a contract to supply ships to the navy is Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
February 2003 — The Scorpions arrest former Western Cape premier Peter Marais and former deputy minister David Malatsi on corruption charges.
April 2003 — A Pretoria court sentences Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to five years in jail for a string of theft and fraud offences. She successfully appeals the term.
June 2003 — The Guardian confirms that British arms manufacturer BaE Systems paid millions in secret commissions to supply Hawk jets to South Africa.
August 2003 — Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka finds prima facie corruption charges against Zuma for his involvement in the arms deal.
February 2004 — The M&G exposes the ANC’s close association with an empowerment oil trader linked to Saddam Hussein.
August 2004 — Almost a third of MPs are probed for their involvement in a multimillion-rand travel scandal, dubbed “Travelgate”.
Data provided by the Centre for Public Integrity
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