By Bobby Jordan

A key whistle-blower in the R1-billion Land Bank corruption saga has been left penniless after being kicked out of the country’s witness protection programme.

The man and his family were in the witness protection programme at secret locations for the past year until just before Christmas, when they were removed without any explanation — shortly after Cabinet reversed a decision to hand a damaging forensic report into affairs at the Land Bank to police and prosecuting authorities.

Instead, the matter was sent to the minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs for further “internal investigation” after new information surfaced.

Now the family, who spoke to the Sunday Times in strict confidence this week, are living in fear of their lives while the men implicated in massive alleged Land Bank pilfering continue to live normal lives.

Failure to act against Land Bank officials implicated in the forensic report compiled by Deloitte & Touche has drawn a political backlash, particularly since it was leaked that the state may be shedding potential witnesses.

The termination of protection has been brought to the attention of Deputy Minister of Justice, Johnny de Lange, who is responsible for witness protection.

Senior Land Bank officials were implicated in a scheme of allegedly irregular loans in the forensic report. Under the scheme, the bank financed land upon which golf estates, theme parks, residential property and industrial parks were to be built. Former bank chief executive Alan Mukoki featured prominently in the forensic report.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali declined to confirm whether any witnesses had been dropped from the protection programme.

“The programme is discharging its obligations in terms of the Act to the extent it is practical and possible within the parameters of available resources,” he said.

The former witness and his family have spent the past three months in hiding, since being given three hours to pack their bags and vacate a safe house.

The visibly shaken middle-aged man said he believed he was just one of several witnesses in a similar position. “We stuck by the rules 100% and they dumped us,” he said, adding that he gave up a cushy life to expose what he claims were a long series of crooked loans from the Land Bank.

He was one of several witnesses used to compile the forensic report by Deloitte & Touche. “They’ve got the evidence. Why did they put it on hold?” asked the man, whose identity cannot be revealed for safety reasons.

“I’ve put my life and my family’s life at risk to come forward and try to expose corruption, only to get treated like this. What kind of message does that send out?”

He said while on the programme since May 2007, he and his family were given only R1250 a month — enough to buy basic foodstuffs but not cover extras like essential items for their young child. Before joining the programme, they lived in a four-bedroomed home, had just ordered a luxury car and claim they were on the verge of pocketing over R30-million from a Land Bank deal.

Once on the protection programme they were denied the usual provisions such as a family visit, trauma counselling and a reintegration allowance.

They said they were not given an explanation why they were removed from the programme until they appealed the decision. The appeal was rejected.

Deloitte & Touche spokesman Tommy Prince, a former Scorpions heavyweight, confirmed that their audit report was handed to government last year and had relied partly on evidence from various witnesses.

Commenting this week, former Agriculture Minister Kraai van Niekerk, now agriculture spokesman for the Democratic Alliance, said the government’s handling of the report was suspicious: “The report was withdrawn within three days by Cabinet itself and all the power was given to the minister (of Agriculture and Land Affairs). Who are they protecting?”

Godfrey Mdhluli, spokesman for Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana, who is currently in China, said the Land Bank probe was continuing. “The minister is proceeding along those lines ... as requested by Cabinet,” he said.

Source: Sunday Times