Corruption Watch says the appointment of a Special Investigation Tribunal is a major development in the fight against corruption in the state.
The tribunal will begin its work on Tuesday to assist the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to expedite the process of recouping state funds. The amount expected to be recovered currently stands at R14, 7 billion.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the appointment of the tribunal, which will consist of eight judges, during his State of the Nation Address in February this year.
Corruption Watch’s Executive Director David Lewis says such tribunals will act as a deterrent to organisations or individuals considering engaging in corruption.
“It’s a very big development, the SIU is establishing itself as one of the leading anti-corruption bodies and so we are really delighted about this. I don’t know how far they are going, obviously they’ve been investigating these sorts of things for a long time and I would imagine a multitude of claims to make. I would like to think it’s a substantial deterrent and it does change the game quite a lot – it sort of discourages people of their kind of ill-gotten gains so it’s a major development,” says Lewis.
