The Hawks, which are responsible for tackling organised and
commercial crime plus serious corruption, have previously said they were
running the inquiry but that Gordhan was not being personally
targetted.
South
Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivers his 2016 budget
address to the parliament in Cape Town, February 24, 2016.
South Africa's elite Hawks police unit denied on Sunday a report that an investigation involving Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, which has helped to weaken the rand, has been transferred to another part of the force.
Citing
an unnamed source, the City Press newspaper said the police crime
intelligence unit had taken over the inquiry into a surveillance body
formed at the national tax agency SARS when it was run by Gordhan
between 1999 and 2009.
The Hawks, which are
responsible for tackling organised and commercial crime plus serious
corruption, have previously said they were running the inquiry but that
Gordhan was not being personally targetted.
On Sunday, Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi repeated this denial, and dismissed the City Press report. "There
is no investigation against the minister, the investigation is only on
the spy unit at SARS. It is not correct that the crime intelligence unit
is handling the case," Mulaudzi told Reuters.
Gordhan
has been embroiled in the investigation and an accompanying political
row at a time when South Africa faces a possible downgrading of its
credit rating.
Standard and Poor's, which ranks
Africa's most industrialised country just one step above subinvestment
grade, is due to make public its rating decision on Friday.
Gordhan
has said rival credit rating agency Fitch will also announce the result
of its review of South Africa on June 8. Policymakers fear the country,
whose economy is expected to grow by less than one percent this year,
may be headed to "junk' status, an outcome that would increase its
borrowing costs.
On Friday, the presidency said in a statement that President Jacob Zuma is not "at war" with Gordhan over the control of the National Treasury, in response to widespread media reports.
The
City Press cited an unnamed senior crime intelligence commander as
saying his police unit was now involved in the inquiry because it had "better resources and capacity, and a larger network of informants".
The commander added that the Hawks were "not making sufficient progress" in the case of the spy unit, which was set up to tackle organised crime and illicit revenues.
The
crime intelligence unit is authorised to use surveillance and conduct
undercover operations, such as infiltrating crime syndicates.
On
May 15, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Gordhan faced imminent
arrest, sending the rand tumbling to a two-month low, despite denials
by the presidency and the police.
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