The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DJCOD) has refuted claims alleging that the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Investigating Directorate (ID) has been hampered in doing its work on the State Capture Commission report.

The department said, “inaccurate media reports” allege that the NPA ID has not been “able to access critical information from the erstwhile State Capture Commission’s (SCC’s) Data Centre”.

“We wish to clarify that the cooperation between the Ministry and Investigating Directorate of the NPA remain cordial and professional. On the 31st of July 2024, the Ministry met with several of the entities of the department, and it pledged its unwavering commitment to support the work of the NPA and its Investigative Directorate.

“The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is the legal custodian of all the assets of the Commission including the data centre, following the expiry of the term of the SCC. The department holds these assets on behalf of the South African State, government and people. This mandate arises from the custodianship of the Commissions Act, 1947, residing with the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.”

The department further stated that the data centre has devolved to the DJCOD as envisioned by the founding Memorandum of Agreement between the department and its counterpart, the National Treasury.

Furthermore, the department said it remains committed to “transparency, accountability, and the effective use of its data to support justice and governance”.

“The department established a Residual Mechanism to deal with remaining matters of the Commission.”

The Commission continues to supply and support all law enforcement agencies and other entities with data and information, as and when requested. Further, there is a Secretariat that continues to manage the data centre and support all law enforcement agencies and other entities in accessing the database.

“To ensure effective utilization of the data, the Commission trained over 20 NPA investigators, providing them with direct access to the Commission’s digital forensic platforms. The Commission’s secretariat has consistently supplied the requested data and documents.

“The Secretariat has positively responded to data requests from various law enforcement agencies, including the NPA’s ID, DPCI [Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations – Hawks], Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), South African Revenue Service (SARS), Special Investigating Unit (SIU), and some State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The remaining staff that is experienced in data science and programming, continue to support ongoing projects,” the department said.

News24 on Wednesday 14 August reported an “impasse” between the justice department and the NPA after the former apparently stymied the NPA’s efforts to gain full access to “essential evidence”, gathered by state capture commission investigators, which has now been lost due to maintenance failure.

The report further claimed that the department has stalled on the permanent establishment of the Investigating Directorate, making it difficult for the directorate to prosecute state-capture criminals.

The NPA said that it “continues to engage” execs from the commission’s digital lab and had “expressed that lack of access to the lab hampers the ability of the ID to deal with state capture cases. However, the issue of the access to the lab is primarily a technical one, being handled between the NPA and justice department officials. The previous and current ministers have been engaged and committed to attend to it expeditiously.”