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A Hawks vehicle
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) says they’ve arrested 38 individuals so far and secured four convictions for State Capture-related crimes.
This emerged during the Directorate’s presentation of its successes for the third quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year in Pretoria yesterday.
Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya says they have obtained more than 2 000 statements from 50 cases emanating out of the State Capture Inquiry.
Lebeya says investigations are ongoing however the National Prosecuting Authority has to be satisfied with the evidence before the case is brought before court.
“We can always expect arrests on that. We have a team that we have assembled that is focusing on those matters so as soon as the NPA is satisfied that the evidence collected is sufficient, they will make that decision and we can secure that attendance of the suspects in court. We can’t say until the NPA has made a decision as to whether now or maybe later.”
Police killings
The Hawks also say they are making progress in clamping down on organized crime including those involved in police killings.
Lebeya says there’s been arrests and convictions for some of the serious crimes including illegal mining, crash in transit heists and fraud and corruption.
He has warned that those involved in police killings will face the full might of the law.
“An attack on police officials is an assault on society and indeed attack on the State. We categorised the killing of police officials as a national priority offence that requires the attention of the DPCI. During this period, 13 police officials were murdered of which eight were off duty while five were on duty. Thirty arrests and seven convictions with 22 life imprisonment sentences and 725 years imprisonment were secured.”
