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PP complaint leads to arrest of suspects allegedly involved in Siyenza toilet scandal

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Dear MyPE

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape welcomes the arrest of 10 suspects, several believed to be high ranking government officials and businesses people, on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering for their alleged involvement in the 2015 Siyenza Group toilet scandal in the Amathole District Municipality.

According to the Hawks the suspects aged between 34 and 60 were arrested in the early hours of today and will be appearing in the East London Magistrate’s court tomorrow, 22 November 2019.

The simultaneous intelligence driven raids took place in Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal by a multi-disciplinary team which included Crime Intelligence and SAPS detectives.

The scandal broke after a R631-million tender was awarded to the Siyenza Group to build 66,000 toilets in the Amathole District Municipality without proper procurement procedures being followed. Very few toilets were built and the Hawks’ preliminary investigation discovered that that R286 million had already been paid out to the suspects.

The DA has been championing the fight against corruption and raised this matter with the Public Protector back in 2015, when the allegations of improper conduct around this tender first arose.

After lodging our complaint in 2015 an investigation followed, and in June 2019 the Public Protector’s report into the Siyenza toilet scandal found that there was improper conduct and maladministration in the awarding of the tender.

We now call on the authorities to act with all haste in taking the matter to trial and ensuring that justice prevails.

The DA believes that those who are guilty of corruption must be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in jail. It is high time that those responsible for stealing money meant for the people of this province are put behind bars.

Regards

Nqaba Bhanga
DA EC Provincial Leader

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