‘Capture crooks going down'

"Top structures of NPA now uncaptured. The prosecutors are incorruptible.'

- Liesl Peyper

DOWNER: NATIONAL PROSECUTING AUTHORITY WANTS THEM IN THE ‘TJOEKIE' BUT NEEDS TIME

Prosecutor advocate Billy Downer warned "we must allow more time to bring state capture crooks to book", but said "things are happening; just watch this space".

Downer and Steven Powell, a specialist white-collar crime prosecutor and head of ENSafrica's forensic practice, were part of a panel discussion about halting corruption in SA at an investment conference in Cape Town.

When asked why some state capture-linked individuals were able to propel themselves into higher places, such as members of Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe party, Downer said South Africans will see more successful prosecutions from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) going forward.

"When the Scorpions [a former specialised unit in the NPA] was abolished, South Africa went from an ideal state with a much-desired investigative unit to one where the NPA was captured," he said.

"The one main thing is the top structures of the NPA are now uncaptured. The prosecutors are incorruptible.

"Ten years of state capture cannot be reversed in five years.

The NPA hears the cries of the public. We want the crooks in the tjoekie. But we have to follow the law and find the evidence.