Johannesburg - The government’s report on the Gupta scandal shows how intelligence officials scrambled to manage the state’s response, starting with warning ministers to avoid the wedding.
The official investigation report compiled by four top officials – dominated by the intelligence structures – was released on Wednesday after the snap debate on Guptagate in Parliament.
The report describes how, on May 1 – the day after the Jet Airways Airbus landed at the Waterkloof Air Force Base – the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (Nicoc) held a five-hour meeting “to discuss the matter and co-ordinate a response from the security cluster”.
At the meeting were Nicoc officials, the State Security Agency, the SAPS, Defence Intelligence, the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco), the Presidency, the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Sars, and government communications section GCIS.
The GCIS had already met a day before to “manage the media environment” and co-ordinate departmental spokespersons.
The report lists 10 decisions taken by the Nicoc meeting:
* Top of the list was the decision that directors-general should meet their ministers and “advise against attendance at the wedding at Sun City”.
* The meeting also decided to convene the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure to “take control of the operation from the two provinces”, as well as the Provincial Joint Operational Committees.
* The SAPS was to find out whether the visiting “ministers” were getting VIP protection and take “corrective measures”.
* The aircraft was to be immediately removed from Waterkloof Air Force Base. Home Affairs was to find out who had arrived and where they were, and Sars was to sort out the customs declarations “immediately”.
* All communication with the media was restricted to the GCIS, which was to hold a government press briefing on May 3.
* The directors-general were to “immediately” brief their ministers on the outcomes of the meeting.
The following day, the justice, crime prevention and security cluster ministers met and set up a team of directors-general to investigate, and planned a media statement.
The report outlines how the name dropping worked.
The name dropping is blamed mainly on ambassador Vusi Bruce Koloane, chief of state protocol at Dirco, and also on Lieutenant-Colonel Christine Anderson of the Waterkloof base.
During the pre-landing negotiations, Koloane allegedly contacted the minister of defence’s political adviser to move the request along.
“The ambassador stated that he was ‘under pressure from No 1’ on the matter”, said the report.
On another occasion, Koloane allegedly called a sergeant-major at Waterkloof to check progress, and said there would be “four to five ministers” on the flight.
“He added that the Minister of Transport, Mr Ben Martins, had been given instructions ‘by the president to assist the Gupta family’, that the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans ‘has no objection’, that ‘at a meeting of the Minister of Transport, the CEO of Acsa and the Guptas’ he had been ‘told to assist’, and that ‘this was a unique case’,” said the report.
The sergeant-major asked for something in writing. “The ambassador responded that ‘the challenge was that this could not be put in writing’,” said the report.
The investigators checked with the Presidency.
“On May 13, 2013, the director-general in the Presidency stated that at no point did the president give instructions to ambassador Koloane or discuss the issue of the landing of the aircraft with him… He denied that the Presidency had ever received a request for landing at Waterkloof Air Force Base from any person whatsoever.”
The report said Koloane “took it upon himself to facilitate an illegal request for landing”.
Koloane, who was interviewed by the investigation team, admitted to taking liberties with names.
On two occasions, he “confirmed that neither the president nor officials in the Presidency, whether junior or senior, ministers and directors-general in Dirco and Defence and Military Veterans had instructed him to assist with the landing of the aircraft,” said the report.
“He said he did this because he is obliged to assist official and non-official visits involving ministers of other countries.”
Anderson was found to have promoted the landing by referring to “No 1” being aware of the request; again, the investigators said this was misrepresentation.
A week before the landing, various departments and officials were informed by fax by Waterkloof of the flight details. These included Home Affairs, the Border Police, the State Security Agency and Sars. Sars did not get the message as the fax went to an official whio had left a year ago, the report said.
The Star