while Nigerians wait for closure on the
$15 million arms money seized by
South African prosecutors, authorities
in the two countries appear to have
agreed on an unholy barter to exchange bodies
of South Africans who died in the Synagogue
Church collapse in Nigeria, for South African-
made arms needed by Nigeria to fight Boko
Haram, The Mail and Guardian, one of South
Africa’s most respected newspapers, has
reported.
South Africa confiscated the money from arms
brokers who travelled there to procure arms for
the Nigerian military.
Mail and Guardian said it saw two letters written
by Jeff Radebe, the South African special envoy
in charge of facilitating the repatriation of the
bodies, to JP “Torie” Pretorius, of the Directorate
for Priority Crime Investigations, also known as
the Hawks, and Dumisani Dladla, head of South
African National Conventional Arms Control
Committee, NCACC, secretariat, seeking to assist
the Nigerian government to get the weapons,
despite two court orders freezing the money and
continued probe into the dubious deals by
investigators.
On November 16, with the supervision of Mr.
Radebe, 74 bodies were repatriated to South
Africa following the September collapse of the
Synagogue Church in Lagos, Nigeria.
Majority of the dead were South Africans who
visited the church hoping to receive miracles
from the founder, T. B. Joshua.
Many in South Africa hailed Mr. Radebe as a
hero for being able to secure the release of the
bodies.
But the news that he might have entered into a
sinister swap agreement with Nigerian officials
to accelerate the return of the bodies has cast a
pall over that heroic persona.
The South African government has dismissed the
Mail and Guardian’s account as an attempt to
“discredit the collaborative efforts of the South
African and Nigerian governments to repatriate
the bodies of South Africans that died in
Nigeria”.
But the paper, in a follow-up report, said it stood
by its findings, as they were backed by
documents and confirmations from government
officials.
“It includes correspondence from Minister
Radebe to the Hawks and internal emails from
senior government officials,” Mail and Guardian
editor, Angela Quintal, said. “The email trail
clearly shows that these officials were
discussing the minister’s request that the
investigation be halted and that they were
concerned about this.”
In the letters Mail and Guardian quoted, Mr.
Radebe, who is also the Chairman of NCACC
and a minister in the South African presidency,
tried hard to whitewash the deals as legitimate.
“(It) was, in fact, a legitimate requirement from
the government of Nigeria,” he was quoted to
have written. “Although the required
administrative processes were not adhered to at
the time, the government of South Africa deems
it a bona fide error.”
He told Mr. Dladla to “laise” with Mr. Pretorius to
“obtain all relevant information in order to assist
the parties involved to apply for the necessary
authorisations in compliance with the National
Conventional Arms Control Amendment Act (no
73 of 2008);” adding that “Upon receipt of the
required permit applications, the national
conventional arms control committee will
favourably consider ex-post facto approval
thereof.”
Though Mr. Radebe claimed that the attempt to
help Nigeria clean up the arms deal was
collectively agreed at an NCACC meeting, other
members of the committee are distancing
themselves from the agreement.
Also, while he claimed, through his
spokesperson, that the committee agreed to help
Nigeria legitimise the deals at its October 30
meeting, the letter seen by Mail and Guardian
was dated October 6, three weeks before the
meeting was held, the newspaper said.
Mr. Radebe also said that the repatriation of the
bodies lay under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
Lagos State government and “had no relation to
the arms matter.”
He said he drafted the letters to Hawks and the
directorate for conventional arms control “after
consultation with the Federal Republic of
Nigeria”.
Mail and Guardian quoted a cabinet minister,
who is also a member of the arms committee,
as saying that Mr. Radebe singlehandedly wrote
the letter without consulting other committee
members. He said Mr. Radebe merely sought
their approval after the letter had been delivered.
“Jeff cut this deal all by himself. He wanted to
claim credit for cracking this matter [securing the
return of bodies,” said the government official.
“His colleagues who serve on the arms
committee are distancing themselves from the
whole thing. They are refusing to back him on
this one. If we allow Nigeria to get away with
this, it means any country can come and do the
same.”
Mr. Radebe appeared to be completely isolated
on the matter as prosecutors said they are not
relenting in their effort at getting to the bottom
of the matter. Paul Ramaloko, a captain with the
Hawks said his organisation is forging ahead
with its investigation and that he knew nothing
about the attempt of Mr. Radebe to withdraw
the charges.
Mail and Guardian said Mr. Radebe’s letters are
being discussed within the country’s diplomatic
circles with officials wondering what to do with
it.
An email the newspaper claimed it saw read:
“What concerns the NCAI [National Arms Control
Inspectorate] about this case is that there are no
documents … end-user certificate, or otherwise …
from the Nigerian government that they had
ordered the arms and ammunition. Thus far,
there is no proof that has been provided that the
Nigerian government ordered these goods or is in
any way involved in this deal.”
The officials who wrote the email added that,
having bought arms from South Africa before,
“the responsible officials in that country
understand the administrative and legal process
that South Africa requires”.
Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Sambo
Dasuki, could not be reached for comments. His
spokesperson, Adebisi Adekunle, could not also
be contacted as calls to his telephone were
unsuccessful.
A spokesperson to President Goodluck Jonathan,
Reuben Abati, did not also respond to calls to
his phones.

Wharrever.

Whether the arms deal was legitimate or not, the S.A. government should just #BringBackOurMoney#

Source?

HumbledbYGrace:
Source?

sahara reporters

Tufia, lies from the pit of hell

Onyi42:


sahara reporters

link

We still have your money

South Africa still holding Nigeria’s seized
$15 million arms money.
Contrary to widespread reports in the Nigeria
media (PREMIUM TIMES not included) the South
African government has not returned the $15
million seized from arms dealers purportedly
buying arms for the Nigerian military.
PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report that
the money remains frozen in South Africa and
has not been returned to the Nigerian
government.
In October, several media articles quoting the
South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu
Mnguni, reported that the money seized in
connection with two dubious arms deal had been
released to the Nigerian government.
However, Mr. Mnguni has told PREMIUM TIMES
that the reports are false. Apart from the High
Commissioner, the spokesperson of the South
African National Prosecuting Authority, NPA, Nathi
Mncube, and a South African source that is
knowledgeable about the matter but requested
not to be named, told PREMIUM TIMES in
separate correspondences that the money was
yet to be released to the Nigeria government.
Rather than return the money, there is possibility
that the money may never be returned to the
Nigerian government again.
Responding to PREMIUM TIMES enquiry about the
extent of the investigation into the seized arms
money, Mr. Mncube, who declined to give specific
information because the NPA does not respond to
matters under investigation, however, said the
money may be forfeited to the South African
government.
“In terms of our law, proceeds of crime are
forfeited to the state,” he said.
On his part, Mr. Mnguni vehemently denied the
reports credited to him that the matter has been
resolved diplomatically and the money returned
to the Nigerian government.
He said it was not procedural for the South
African government to return frozen money in
the manner suggested in the reports quoting
him.
“We don’t refund money that way,” he said
during a telephone conversation. “I said the
matter would be resolved within the legal and
legitimate means. That was what I said. I did not
say the money has been refunded. And I did not
follow up since then on whether the money has
been refunded or not. It has to be done through
the legal and legitimate means.”
PREMIUM TIMES investigation also revealed that
instead of providing document that validated its
claim that the deals were legal, the Nigerian
government has been vigorously pursuing a
diplomatic resolution of the matter.
Hard as it is trying, it appears the Nigerian
government is merely chasing the wind, as the
matter is no longer in the hands of diplomats and
politicians.
Unfazed by subtle threat of the National Security
Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, to come hard of South
African business interests such as MTN and DSTV
in Nigeria, NPA obtained court orders freezing the
money.
Now, Nigeria has to go through the full hog of
court processes to secure its release – something
the government, which claimed ownership of the
money, appears incapable of doing following the
backdoor manner the deals were reached.
“The money was frozen by two court orders and
the court requires the documentations before the
money is released,” Mr. Mncube said. “The money
is still here and is not going anywhere. We would
not release it if we don’t have a surety where the
money is going. It is a court process.”
http://nigeriana.org/blog/105206.html

Centrifude:
South Africa still holding Nigeria’s seized
$15 million arms money.
Contrary to widespread reports in the Nigeria
media (PREMIUM TIMES not included) the South
African government has not returned the $15
million seized from arms dealers purportedly
buying arms for the Nigerian military.
PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report that
the money remains frozen in South Africa and
has not been returned to the Nigerian
government.
In October, several media articles quoting the
South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu
Mnguni, reported that the money seized in
connection with two dubious arms deal had been
released to the Nigerian government.
However, Mr. Mnguni has told PREMIUM TIMES
that the reports are false. Apart from the High
Commissioner, the spokesperson of the South
African National Prosecuting Authority, NPA, Nathi
Mncube, and a South African source that is
knowledgeable about the matter but requested
not to be named, told PREMIUM TIMES in
separate correspondences that the money was
yet to be released to the Nigeria government.
Rather than return the money, there is possibility
that the money may never be returned to the
Nigerian government again.
Responding to PREMIUM TIMES enquiry about the
extent of the investigation into the seized arms
money, Mr. Mncube, who declined to give specific
information because the NPA does not respond to
matters under investigation, however, said the
money may be forfeited to the South African
government.
“In terms of our law, proceeds of crime are
forfeited to the state,” he said.
On his part, Mr. Mnguni vehemently denied the
reports credited to him that the matter has been
resolved diplomatically and the money returned
to the Nigerian government.
He said it was not procedural for the South
African government to return frozen money in
the manner suggested in the reports quoting
him.
“We don’t refund money that way,” he said
during a telephone conversation. “I said the
matter would be resolved within the legal and
legitimate means. That was what I said. I did not
say the money has been refunded. And I did not
follow up since then on whether the money has
been refunded or not. It has to be done through
the legal and legitimate means.”
PREMIUM TIMES investigation also revealed that
instead of providing document that validated its
claim that the deals were legal, the Nigerian
government has been vigorously pursuing a
diplomatic resolution of the matter.
Hard as it is trying, it appears the Nigerian
government is merely chasing the wind, as the
matter is no longer in the hands of diplomats and
politicians.
Unfazed by subtle threat of the National Security
Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, to come hard of South
African business interests such as MTN and DSTV
in Nigeria, NPA obtained court orders freezing the
money.
Now, Nigeria has to go through the full hog of
court processes to secure its release – something
the government, which claimed ownership of the
money, appears incapable of doing following the
backdoor manner the deals were reached.
“The money was frozen by two court orders and
the court requires the documentations before the
money is released,” Mr. Mncube said. “The money
is still here and is not going anywhere. We would
not release it if we don’t have a surety where the
money is going. It is a court process.”
http://nigeriana.org/blog/105206.html

And y o nkirela difahleho

HumbledbYGrace:
And y o nkirela difahleho

Nje...

Centrifude:

Nje...

all is well