DA lays corruption charges against Arthur Fraser and his family

The DA on Tuesday morning lay corruption charges against director-general of State Security Agency (SSA) Arthur Fraser and his family over a top-secret state intelligence programme that existed at the spy agency.

DA chief whip in parliament John Steenhuisen said the charges were laid at Cape Town Police Station and in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

Fraser and some members of his family have been accused of alleged corruption over the Principle Agent Network (PAN) programme, which was allegedly overseen by him from 2007 to 2009 when he was the deputy director-general of the then National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

The allegations were exposed in investigative journalist and author Jacques Pauw’s new bestselling book, The President’s Keepers.

Steenhuisen said the corruption charges supplemented the DA’s formal complaint lodged with the office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence on May 18, 2017, over Fraser’s involvement in the PAN programme.

“An internal investigation into the PAN programme reportedly found wide-scale financial mismanagement, fruitless expenditure, nepotism and corruption amounting to tens of millions of rands,” Steenhuisen said in a statement.

“The investigation is also said to have found sufficient proof to institute criminal investigations against a number of persons involved with the PAN programme, including Arthur Fraser.”

The involvement of Fraser’s family includes allegations that:

• His brother, Barry Fraser, whose company concluded a R24-million lease agreement to warehouse an estimated 293 vehicles, purchased for ‘operational use’;
• His son, Lyle Fraser, who was employed as the floor manager in the warehouse;
• His mother, CF Fraser, who served as a board member of a community-based organisation dealing with conflict resolution, especially at schools. The PAN programme contributed R10 million towards the organisation, which was found to not resort under the mandate of the NIA and produced no product in return;

“Pauw’s book and related media reports paint the picture of a covert programme which was used as a personal enrichment scheme for the Frasers and other intelligence operatives. The ‘secret’ nature of their activities have allowed those who fleeced the SSA to escape accountability for far too long.

“The outrageous details that have now emerged about Fraser’s past not only reinforce our objections to his appointment in September 2016, but also necessitates a proper investigation into his criminal conduct and that of his family,” Steenhuisen said.

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