Source of leaks from ConCourt likely from a judge, public protector claims

The source of alleged leaks from the Constitutional Court to legal analyst Ismail Abramjee may well be from members of the administrative staff or a judicial official — but the evidence points towards members of the judiciary, public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane claimed on Tuesday.

She said telephone records obtained by her office showed that 18 calls were exchanged between the number allegedly belonging to Abramjee and one registered under the name Narandran Kollapen.

Mkhwebane made these allegations in her closing report on Tuesday after her office conducted a preliminary investigation into suspicions of improper conduct by a Constitutional Court employee for allegedly leaking information concerning judicial proceedings.

She said a complaint would be lodged with the Judicial Service Commission.

The matter will also be referred to the Hawks to investigate crimes which may have been committed in connection with the unsolicited SMSes sent to advocate Andrew Breitenbach SC by Abramjee and his accomplice(s) to unlawfully influence the outcome of a judicial process in pursuit of a manifestly nefarious motive.

“The matter is therefore closed,” Mkhwebane said.

She said the closing report is usually issued in cases where the allegations that gave rise to an investigation are unsubstantiated or if her office is not empowered by law to deal with the issue.

The investigation followed a text message that Abramjee sent to Breitenbach, the lead senior counsel for parliament's speaker, in April.

The text message led to the last-minute postponement of an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court to put the brakes on impeachment proceedings in parliament and to interdict Mkhwebane’s possible suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mkhwebane said as part of the preliminary investigation, her office considered information in the Pretoria Rekord newspaper of March 29 where the newspaper carried a story about a function held in honour of justice Jody Kollapen after his appointment to the apex court. She said the function was reportedly hosted by the Pretoria Legacy Foundation in Laudium, west of Pretoria. She said the newspaper referred to Kollapen as the chairperson of the foundation and Abramjee as its spokesperson.

Mkhwebane said from the article, an inference may be drawn that Abramjee may  personally know or may have contact or communication with certain people based at the Constitutional Court from whom he may have possibly received information concerning pending judicial proceedings regarding the case involving the public protector.

The public protector then issued subpoenas to cellphone networks, the registrar of the Constitutional Court, the secretary-general in the office of the chief justice, Kollapen, Breitenbach and Abramjee.

“An analysis of the cellphone data received from network providers shows that 18 telephone calls were exchanged between the number from which the controversial SMS to Adv Breitenbach was made and the one registered under the name Narandran Kollapen.”

She said these calls were exchanged between January 4 and April 22, two days before Breitenbach received the controversial SMS.

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