Mchunu bypassed protocol to deliver IGI report to Idac, Ramsamy tells Madlanga

Suspended minister Senzo Mchunu arranged for the inspector-general of intelligence (IGI) report to be handed over to the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), after the IGI had previously refused to provide it to the directorate.

This is according to Idac’s Drushantha Ramsamy, who told the Madlanga commission on Tuesday that the exchange did not follow the processes that they normally abide by when they exchange information between them and IGI.

“In September, Mr [Dylan] Perumal [suspended Idac chief investigator] told us that the minister, Senzo Mchunu, arranged with someone to fly to him in the Eastern Cape and provide the IGI report,” said Ramsamy.

“I just know that it wasn’t supposed to come to us in that way [through the minister]. There are certain procedures and processes that have to be followed before the sharing of that information. There were channels that had to be followed for that information to be shared.”

The report relates to the investigations that IGI was conducting into Crime Intelligence and Perumal had labelled “golden”. That is because it was believed that it would assist them in their case against crime intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo and his senior colleagues.

However, a few months before they got the report from Mchunu, they had a meeting with IGI, and the inspectorate had refused to hand them the report.

“It was a fruitless meeting. They [IGI] could not assist us and we could not assist them,” she said.

She told the commission that they had approached IGI because there was always information sharing between Idac and IGI on finalised reports.

The investigation was ongoing, and the sharing of information could not take place, she said.

Earlier, Ramsamy told the commission that a case against Khumalo, which she had been asked to work on, was enrolled in court while she was on sick leave, before she had concluded her assessment.

“In June, I had read the docket, and I found that there were no merits for enrolment; I found that there was no prima facie evidence.

“I had started drafting a memo where I had gone statement by statement, problem by problem and submission by submission, and then you would recommend that there was no case.

“Unfortunately, I [became sick] and did not finish the memo. While on sick leave, I received a call from someone at the office who said, ‘Hey, aren’t you doing Crime Intelligence matters? Your matter is in court.’ I switched on the TV and saw the Crime Intelligence officers in court,” she said.

The hearing continues.

Sowetan