Hawks confirm inquiry into leaked Gupta e-mails

Acting Hawks head Lt-Gen Yolisa Matakata has instituted an inquiry on the leaking of thousands e-mails between members of the Gupta family and their associates.

Hawks spokesman Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed the inquiry was launched last week but did not say what exactly was being investigated.

"Let’s give them space to work on the matter without any due influence‚" he told Business Day.

The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) said it had written to Matakata on Monday asking for an update on what the Hawks were investigating.

• #GuptaEmails: Gupta fixer paid for minister's Dubai stayCommunications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo's stay at a luxury hotel in Dubai in 2015 was secured by Sahara Computers‚ a company owned by the Gupta family. 

"We need the Hawks to act and they should be investigating these things and they should be verifying some of the information that is in the e-mails‚ saying well if this is true then this constitutes a criminal offence and therefore we have to take it further‚" Lawson Naidoo said.

• Denel runs to Guptas: Arms group head ‘gave them top-secret info’The chairman of state-owned arms manufacturer and procurer Denel, Daniel Lugisani Mantsha, appears to have fed sensitive classified company information to the Gupta family, leaked e-mails show. 

He said if the Hawks failed to investigate this matter‚ the unit had to be held accountable.

This comes as City Press on Sunday reported that law enforcement agencies were intensifying investigations into allegations that the Guptas moved billions of rand out of SA.

• Ministers implicated in fresh #GuptaEmails scandalsDeputy finance minister Sfiso Buthelezi and mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane were on Monday implicated in fresh allegations of being “captured” by the Gupta family. 

The newspaper said it had obtained documents showing that the Hawks were investigating former Eskom group CE Brian Molefe‚ and President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane.

Duduzane Zuma has been a key figure in the tranche of e-mails.

The leaked e-mails between members of the Gupta family and associates detail the extent to which the Gupta family had captured politicians and state entities.

TMG Digital/BusinessLIVE