The logo of Trillian Capital, an asset management company linked to the Gupta-family.
JOHANNESBURG - The NPA&39;s Asset Forfeiture Unit says six of its investigations into state capture are at an advanced stage.
The prosecuting authority has confirmed that it&39;s investigating 17 cases related to state capture, involving amounts totalling R50-billion.
"So we&39;re working jointly doing different but complimentary processes that will ensure that those that are guilty of crimes are prosecuted, convicted but more importantly that we recover the loss that the state has occurred. As I am talking to you now we have about six matters that we are prioritising, this matter happens to be one of them. The matters some of them are before the court and hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will have the court orders," says Knorx Molelle, Asset Forfeiture Unit Advocate.
On Monday the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed the Asset Forfeiture Unit has obtained an order to freeze assets worth R1.6-billion belonging to the Gupta-linked firms.
AFU obtained preservative order freezing McKinsey and Trillian assets on 14 December.
Meanwhile the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit has dismissed speculation that an arrest warrant has been issued for any suspects in state capture investigations.
“I can dispel those rumours, the reality is no application has been made by the police to the prosecutors assigned to this case and no other prosecutors in respect of this. The process with dealing with summoning someone to court, we normally investigate until they are fully and properly investigated. Even on the first day that person appears before the court to set the matter down for trial. The team has been working very closely with the investigators in order to ensure that sufficient evidence has been gathered,” says Malini Govender, Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit.
