S.Africa: Finance minister fraud charges challenged

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - South Africa’s main opposition party Sunday called for the national prosecutions chief to resign for reportedly ignoring vital evidence before charging the finance minister with fraud.

Experts fear the fraud charges could make ratings agencies push South Africa off the edge into junk status, reducing investor confidence in Africa’s most advanced economy.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said in a statement that National Prosecutions Authority chief Shaun Abrahams purposefully ignored evidence that the alleged fraud was in fact normal procedure.

The charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan come from his decade heading the South African Revenue Services in 1999-2009, when he approved large payments to Ivan Pillay, a former deputy revenue commissioner who took early retirement in 2010 at age 56 . Pillay was later rehired as a contractor.

But the opposition DA said, “The only proper thing for Abrahams to do would be to withdraw the charges against Gordhan and resign”.

The party also claimed an elite police unit had not completed its probe of Gordham when it handed files over to Abrahams lacking vital evidence.

Gordhan and two other ex-officials of the revenue services will appear before a court in the capital Pretoria Wednesday.

Opposition parties and members of civil society have vowed to protest in a show of solidarity with the finance minister when he appears in court.

Amid the turmoil, South Africa’s currency, the rand, has weakened against major currencies.

Prosecutors also accuse Gordhan of illegally establishing a unit to investigate organized crime and tax evasion while at the revenue service.

Andre Duvenhage, a politics professor at Northwest University, told Anadolu Agency he believes the charges are politically motivated, especially since Gordhan is opposed to President Jacob Zuma.

However, Abrahams has repeatedly denied that political interference influenced the charges.

Spokespersons for the National Prosecuting Authority were not available for comment.