The Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have arrested 7 people in various parts of the country in connection with the Free State asbestos housing saga that’s currently being heard at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry.
The arrests are part of a joint operation being conducted in Gauteng, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.
The state capture commission is probing the R255 million contract awarded to a company by the Free State government for the eradication of asbestos in government houses.
In a multidisciplinary operation, the elite crime fighting unit have swooped on 4 suspects and arrested them in two provinces thus far.
The Hawks have confirmed that two suspects were arrested in the Free State, while one suspect handed himself over to police.
One suspect was also arrested in Rosebank, north of Johannesburg. The SIU has confirmed that they are targeting seven suspects in total today, four of which are government officials and three of them are business owners.
In the video below, Hawks arrest suspects implicated in Free State asbestos project:
Earlier, the Hawks conducted a search and seizure operation at the Alfred Nzo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
The investigation stems from alleged fraudulent activities linked to a water project worth R36 million.
It’s alleged that the water tender was duplicated and a company was paid twice.
It’s a municipality that has been characterised by allegations of fraud and corruption for years.
The Hawks have constantly conducted investigations at the municipality but no one was successfully charged and prosecuted before a court of law.
