FF+ wants Oilgate questions answered

The Freedom Front-Plus says there are still unanswered questions after an investigation into the Oilgate saga. The party says one way of answering these questions is by laying a fraud charge against Imvume management.

Pieter Mulder, the leader of the Freedom Front-Plus, says his party has a mandate from the voters to look after tax money. Mulder says his party has already approached the Scorpions and asked them to take the investigation forward, but they could only investigate if the South African Police Service was involved.

The party wants to lay a charge of fraud against Imvume at a Cape Town police station today.

Lawrence Mushwana, the public protector, earlier found no signs of wrongdoing after an alleged R11 million was given by Imvume to the ANC before last year's general election. The public protector said it could not investigate the relationship between the BEE company and the ANC, as they were both private entities.

More could have been done
Hennie van Vuuren, an anti-corruption strategies researcher, says more could have been done to get to the bottom of the matter. He says the public protector may have limited capabilities, but it had the capacity to establish if there was a relationship between the ANC, Petro SA and Imvume.

Van Vuuren says Mushwana could have recommended the case to the National Prosecuting Authority to ensure that everything was above board. "One small step that was supposed to be taken by the public protector wasn't taken so that any suspicion of corruption can be removed ... what is highlighted here is that there must a relationship between our anti-corruption agencies."

Van Vuuren says the NPA could take its own initiative in conducting an investigation on this matter.