Bosasa arrests: Hawks have yet to arrest these implicated state officials

While the Hawks are celebrating a marquee operation in arresting some of those implicated in the Bosasa scandal, there are key figures that still roam free.

On Wednesday, Hawks’ spokesperson, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, revealed that former chief operations officer, Angelo Agrizzi, along with former correctional services boss, Linda Mit, were one of the six suspects that’ve been held on charges related to corruption and fraud.

Read – Hawks make seven arrests connected to Bosasa allegations at state capture

Testimony from Agrizzi about the scale of corruption Bosasa (now known as African Global Operations) and sectors of government — particularly correctional services — were involved in was instrumental in calling for the arrests, Brigadier Mulaudzi revealed.

Bosasa suspects arrested by Hawks

So far, this is what we know about the Hawks’ arrests:

• Angelo Agrizzi (out on bail);
• Linda Mti (under arrest)
• former national chief financial officer of correctional services, Patrick Gillingham (under arrest)
• Bosasa official, Andries van Tonder (under arrest);
• African Global Operations (company implicated in the charge);
• Sondolo IT (company implicated in the charge); and
• Phezulu Fencing (company implicated in the charge).

Neither Brigadier Mulaudzi nor Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya mentioned the names of the other officials that have been implicated in the Bosasa scandal.

Read – ‘Investigation’ into Ramaphosa’s Bosasa connection heats up

Although these arrests were pertaining to Bosasa’s tender corruption allegations in the correctional services sector, the fact that they were largely motivated by testimonies from the state capture inquiry formed some grounds for other avenues to be investigated.

Implicated Bosasa suspects that are still free

Alas, we have yet to receive further updates from the Hawks regarding the investigations. However, for now, we are left wondering when these officials will be picked up on similar charges:

Jacob Zuma

Implicated by Agrizzi. It is alleged that Zuma received a monthly salary of R300 000 from Bosasa. It was masked as a donation to the Jacob Zuma Foundation that was channeled through Dudu Myeni.

Nomvula Mokonyane

Mokonyane was allegedly pampered by Bosasa. Anything she wanted was given to her. It’s further alleged that Mokonyane used half of Bosasa’s call centre in the 2014 elections.

Gwede Mantashe

It was revealed that Mantashe was allegedly the recipient of a high-costing home security upgrade whose receipt was taken care of by Bosasa. Mantashe vehemently denies these claims, stating that the upgrades were costed to the ANC’s security detail.

Gavin Watson

Interestingly, Watson was smeared the most by Agrizzi. The former Bosasa COO revealed the carnage of corruption Watson was responsible for. However, according to reporters who engaged him as he drove inside his complex, he is still a free man.

Vincent Smith

Smith, an ANC MP, was exposed as the gateway for Watson to influence decisions in Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts. Evidence suggests that he personally benefited from a corrupt payment of something over R900 000 from Bosasa’s wallet.

Dudu Myeni

Things for Myeni have extended beyond a mere Louis Vuitton handbag. The former SAA chairperson has been identified as the midway transfer point between many transactions made by Bosasa and the government.