Zondo’s a crook, says irate Juju

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has criticised the conduct of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and its chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, charging that it is not looking for his bank statements but seeking to cast aspersions and to silence him.

“These crooks, they want to create doubt and leave us with the dark cloud and not be called at Zondo commission,” he said.

“Zondo is looking for statements in an attempt to silence me. Zondo did not have to go to the banks to look for my statements, he should have called me… They would find nothing… We will never be threatened by Zondo commission or [National Prosecuting Authority],” he told journalists.

He was responding to reports that the commission’s investigators had issued SA’s major banks with subpoenas to provide all of his financial records, as well as those of his wife Mantoa and late grandmother Sarah.

The Sunday Times reported that also under investigation would be his lawyer, Ian Levitt, his Ratanang Family Trust and companies linked to him. It said the inquiry would scrutinise information of at least 36 individuals and entities.

Malema said they had briefed the party’s central command at a meeting last weekend. He had not heard anything from the commission but called the commission’s secretary seeking clarification and nothing was said about the bank statements.

“The secretary said they were investigating as to where these leaks are coming from… We are saying, if they need anything, we are here. We have no problem to cooperate with the Zondo commission. Zondo can ask me anything,” Malema said.

He did offer to appear before the commission of his own accord, without a lawyer in December to answer questions, saying he had nothing to hide. Malema said he did not understand the sudden interest in his financial records when his tax woes had already been “leaked” by the SA Revenue Services and published in newspapers.

He said there was nothing exciting in his financials as nothing had changed since then except his parliamentary salary.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

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