Government departments, law enforcement and prosecution agencies will be using existing legislation to investigate and recover unexplained wealth – where the assets of an individual exceed declared income sources and are suspected to have been acquired illegally.

A Business Day report says in a statement yesterday, Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) director Xolisile Khanyile, Hawks head General Godfrey Lebeya, SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter and NDPP Shamila Batohi said existing asset-recovery legislation will be used to secure court orders to confiscate unexplained wealth.

If not successful, a stand-alone law will be considered.

Participating agencies entered into an interagency memorandum of agreement to formalise their collaboration and the practical implementation of the initiative in the cases to be selected, and to regulate the confidentiality of information to be shared among them.

‘Preparatory activities for the next phase are currently in progress in order to select an appropriate case to test the existing provisions that target unexplained wealth in the courts,’ they said.

The NPA, Hawks, Department of Justice and SARS – led by the FIC and operating under the auspices of the Anti-Corruption Task Team – are collaborating on the joint project.

‘The law enforcement agencies will use existing asset recovery legislation to secure appropriate orders issued by our courts to confiscate unexplained wealth, thereby enabling the SA authorities to recover suspected ill-gotten gains,’ they said.

‘The provision in our existing asset-recovery legislation that targets unexplained wealth is a legislative tool that requires the state to prove that a defendant’s legitimate sources of income are not sufficient to justify assets that the defendant owns. This puts the onus on the defendant to prove that the source of the funds for the assets owned is legitimate and that the assets were not acquired from the proceeds of criminal activities.’

Full Business Day report