Mkhwebane’s office fingers culprit behind Absa report leak

Parties fingered in the Absa bailout are believed to have sent the entire report to the media after an official from the public protector's office mistakenly emailed it to them.

Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Picture: Gallo Images

The controversy surrounding the release of the draft Absa report rages as the public protector’s office has come forward to explain how the leak started.

While the office hasn’t taken blame for the leak, it has explained that an official who was working on the team which compiled the document ended up sending it to all the parties that were implicated.

Instead of sending the sections which concerned them and allowing them to respond accordingly, the entire report was sent and then forwarded by one of the parties to the Mail and Guardian.

Huffington Post reports that Oupa Segalwe, public protector spokesperson, commented that the next step is to ensure the full report is first concluded then released to the affected companies and individuals.

Busisiwe Mkhwebane has laid criminal charges at the police station following the incident.

Segalwe said that in terms of the Public Protector Act, information could only legally be publicised with Mkhwebane’s consent.

“Leaking information dents the image of the institution and results in a trust deficit. It could lead to people not trusting our processes, especially whistleblowers who may not be identified,” he said.

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