Hawks probing over 20k cases worth over R1.5tn
Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya on Tuesday confirmed the directorate is currently handling over 20 000 cases worth over R1.5 trillion.
Lebeya briefed the media in Pretoria to outline the milestones achieved since his appointment in 2018.
"These cases involve approximately 23 519 suspects, of which 12 360 have already been secured in the different courts. We are still waiting to trace 11 159,” he said.
Nearly 2 000 of the cases have been sent to the National Prosecuting Authority for a decision.
In the period between the 2018/2019 and 2021/2022 financial years, the directorate had arrested 12 157 suspects who were brought before a court of law. According to Lebeya, 4 447 convictions were secured across the country in the same period.
"Let me hasten to mention that the convictions relate to individuals as the charges/counts themselves are much higher. To cite an example, in 2019 convictions relating to the serious commercial crime investigation component alone were 37 597 counts. In a Cape Town Central CAS1579/10/2016, the two natural persons and five juristic persons were convicted on 487 counts of fraud and money laundering of Value Added Tax to the value of R110 million actual, and R140 million in potential loss. The natural persons were in February 2020 sentenced to 17 years and 16 years imprisonment respectively."
The Hawks investigate priority cases, which included organised crimes, commercial crimes, corruption, money laundering, and other serious crimes like human trafficking and cybercrimes.
ALSO READ:
