EDITORIAL: Inept NPA means happy days for Jooste
The authority’s ham-fisted presentation to parliament will prompt the former Steinhoff boss to celebrate
After the political grandstanding at this week’s Steinhoff presentation in parliament one thing was distressingly clear: disgraced former CEO Markus Jooste is unlikely to be behind bars anytime soon. And we have a hollowed-out inept National Prosecuting Authority to thank for that. It would be comforting to think the NPA’s new investigative unit with assistance from some of the eight individuals named in PwC’s independent investigation might pull off the impossible. But it would be unrealistic. Big as it is, Steinhoff cannot be, and should not be, the new unit’s number one priority. On Tuesday, it was disclosed that the Hawks had spent the last 12 months focusing on one of the allegedly fraudulent transactions. “We were almost on the verge of securing the attendance of the person, then realised there was more than one transaction,” said Hawks boss Lt-Gen Godfrey Lebeya by way of explanation for the total lack of progress. It’s hard not to imagine that, wherever he is holed up — Herm...
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