Justice Ministry slams Shamila Batohi's state capture evidence claims

JOHANNESBURG - The Justice Ministry disputed claims made by National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Advocate Shamila Batohi that it doesn't have the evidence gathered at the State Capture Commission.

State Capture Secretariat in the Department of Justice, Professor Itumeleng Mosala, said the NPA has had access to the evidence since 2020.  

However, Batohi said the NPA was considering its legal options for unfettered access.

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A blatant lie is how the justice ministry described the utterances made by Batohi.

Amid ongoing criticism for the NPA's failure to secure convictions for state capture-related offences, Batohi placed the blame at the doorstep of the justice ministry.

But Mosala said the NPA had access to the evidence before the State Capture Commission even completed its work.

"We trained 37 NPA investigators to enable them to access the records of the commission. They have not done so."

Mosala added that the department offered to train the NPA's prosecutors again, but claimed it failed to take up the offer.