South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is “ready” to give an explanation amid probes into the theft of an unspecified amount of foreign currency from a game farm he owns.
“The most appropriate response from my side is for the law to take its own course. I stand ready to cooperate and also to give an explanation,” he told a parliamentary session via video link.
Responding to parliamentary questions on the case, Ramaphosa indicated he was “ready to be fully accountable” over allegations he concealed the multi-million-dollar cash heist only after investigators had finished their work.
“I have been counseled… that it is best to address this matter when those processes have been done,” he added.
The former director-general of the State Security Agency under the president's predecessor Jacob Zuma, Arthur Fraser, filed a police complaint in June, alleging that robbers broke into Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game reserve in the northeast of the country. There, they purportedly found and stole $4 million in cash hidden in furniture.
Fraser alleged that Ramaphosa concealed the theft from police and the tax authorities. Instead, he organized the kidnapping and questioning of the robbers, and then bribed them to keep silent.
The president has since acknowledged the burglary itself, but denies the accusations of kidnapping and bribery. Regarding the stolen cash, Ramaphosa has disputed the amount and claimed the funds had come from the legitimate sales of game from his animal-breeding reserve.
Probes are underway into the incident by South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog and the police.
South Africa’s Central Bank asked legal advisers to President Cyril Ramaphosa to respond by September 8 to requests for further information as it probes the theft of an unspecified foreign currency from a game farm he owns.
The Financial Surveillance Department is awaiting responses before it proceeds with its investigation, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said in a letter to the opposition Democratic Alliance, as cited by Bloomberg.
Earlier this month, seven South African opposition parties called for Cyril Ramaphosa to take leave until a full investigation into the burglary at his Limpopo farm is completed.