It is shocking that the investigation into the scandal of the magnitude of the parliamentary travel-voucher fraud scam should have taken 20 months and still be nowhere near conclusion, Democratic Alliance Chief Whip Douglas Gibson said on Tuesday.
Speaking in the National Assembly during a special debate on the issue, he said the investigation into the scandal seems to have been very thorough.
”The truth, however, is also that the investigations have been inordinately delayed. Surely if the investigation had been tackled with vigour, this whole mess could have been cleared up long before the election,” he said.
The delay in proceeding with the liquidations against the remaining travel agencies involved cause concern.
”It is at liquidation interrogations that the truth comes out. In-house investigations too easily result in matters being pushed under the carpet, or private arrangements being made with the guilty.
”This foot-dragging by the investigators has allowed this scandal to escalate. The lack of openness has made it worse.
”We want a statement naming all of the MPs involved, stating which had been exonerated and which, while not necessarily guilty, are under investigation,” he said.
”We want the forensic report so that the public can know that Parliament has done and is doing everything possible.
”It is not idle curiosity which moves the DA. Only when the allegations have been properly but urgently investigated, and when the guilty have been convicted and adequately punished, will this ugly chapter in Parliament’s history be put to rest.
”The crooks must be punished and the innocent exonerated. Only in this way will the reputation of Parliament be restored.”
It is an embarrassment to all the honest MPs, and there are many of them, that some among them seem to have forgotten their idealism and their commitment to serving the people, Gibson said. — Sapa