Ciex a ‘sales pitch’‚ says author of Apartheid Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit

Author of Apartheid Guns and Money: A tale of Profit and director of Open Secrets Hennie van Vuuren has labelled the Ciex report currently in the public domain “a sales pitch” that promised much but delivered little in evidence.

“The CIEX document alleges malfeasance by a number of other corporations. However‚ the problem that we have right now is that the version of the so-called CIEX report that is in the public domain is little more than a sales pitch. It promises much‚ delivers little by way of evidence...‚” Van Vuuren charged.

The secret report dubbed Project Spear‚ which was completed in 1999 following an agreement with Ciex head‚ Michael Oatley‚ and then president Thabo Mbeki and the former head of National Intelligence Agency (now South African State Security Agency).

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Monday criticised the government and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) for failing to recover a R1.125-billion “illegal gift” to Bankorp Bank Limited‚ which was acquired by Absa in the 1990s.

This was despite paying 600‚000 British pounds to Ciex for the investigation but failing to act on its findings and recoup the funds stolen during the dying years of apartheid.

The report also uncovered information on billions of rand that could be recovered from Sanlam (R3.8-billion)‚ Rembrandt (about R2.2-billion) and Daimler Chrysler (R5.5-billion).

“If there is a more detailed report prepared by CIEX it must be made available. However we should beware as a people. Bounty hunter firms are keen to make a buck off the South African people. There are many conflicting political and financial agendas at play here‚” he said.

Van Vuuren said as he had shown in Apartheid Guns and Money: A tale of profit‚ there was significant evidence of large scale evidence of malfeasance by banks such as Kredietbank and Kredietbank Luxembourg of aiding and abetting apartheid era sanctions-busting.

He however said Mkhwebane's wisdom in suggesting that the SIU was the relevant body to investigate such matters should be questioned.

“The SIU works best at investigating systemic corruption at a provincial or local level - nothing suggests that it has the mandate or the expertise for a complex multinational investigation involving major private sector entities. This underscores the fact that the (Jacob) Zuma administration has closed down much of the independent investigative capacity in the State - including within the Hawks‚” he said.

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