Zuma, Mahlobo turned a blind eye to red flags on ‘fraudulent’ top spy – report

President Jacob Zuma and then state security minister David Mahlobo had seen official reports by the inspector-general of the State Security Agency (SSA) flagging possible fraud, theft and forgery by Arthur Fraser before appointing him as director-general.

The Sunday Times reports that then SSA director-general Sonto Gladys Kudjoe had handed an affidavit to David Mahlobo claiming that the Principal Agent Network (PAN) set up by Arthur Fraser – who would later replace Kudjoe – had overseen alleged illegal activities by members “without securing proper authorisation”.

The 2014 affidavit Kudjoe reportedly showed that an audit of the PAN project, which Fraser set up in the later 2000s, “indicated a possibility of theft, fraud, forgery and uttering of an amount exceeding R200 million”.

Fraser replaced Kudjoe as director-general at the agency last year after the former director-general resigned as a result of a reportedly “tense” relationship with Mahlobo.

Despite having seen the reports implicating Fraser in wrongdoing, the former security minister and the president went ahead with the appointment, the Sunday Times reports.

Fraser has insisted inspector-general Faith Radebe’s investigation did not implicate him in any wrongdoing. SSA spokesperson Brian Dube also made the same claim to the Sunday paper.

The reports by the inspector-general, which could not be made public, have only come to light after the publication of Jacques Pauw’s controversial President’s Keepers.