Gordhan slams Ciex report as a ‘patent political ploy’
An application brought forward by BLF to have Gordhan investigate claims that billions were siphoned by banks has been dismissed as a 'political ploy.'
Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan during a media briefing before he presented his 2016 Budget Vote Speech in the National Assembly on February 24, 2015 at Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. Gordhan that he will be cutting government expenditure while still making R870-billion available for infrastructure development. (Photo by Gallo Images / Beeld / Nasief Manie)
In response to Black First Land First’s (BLF) legal papers, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has responded with an affidavit in which he blatantly ridicules and dismisses claims that the Ciex report had solid recommendations that should be carried out by Treasury or government.
Compiled by Michael Oatley, a former British spy, the report was commissioned by former president Thabo Mbeki’s government in 1997. Oatley motivated that he could recover billions that had apparently been siphoned through ‘lifeboats’ or business bailouts by banks and other companies. Bankorp was cited as having received R1.5 billion of state money, and despite having paid the money back, they still owed interest fees amounting to R2.23 billion.
ALSO READ: Brian Molefe will have to come face to face with white monopoly capital
But according to Business Live, BLF stated that Gordhan should pursue monies from First National Bank.
Gordhan has asked that the application be dismissed, as it is a “patent political ploy” and “unprecedented in its political intrigue”, with the relief it seeks resting on a “26-year-old unsolicited document prepared by retired M16 spies”.
“It is clear that coerced, extra curial and covert operation through the intervention of agents … did not comply with constitutional values. Government [at the time] clearly could not pursue this course and correctly, whomsoever was approached by Ciex repudiated this egregious form of bounty hunting,” the affidavit reads.
Gordhan also said his legal team had studied the Ciex report and found it lacking and deeply flawed.
For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.
