Pravin Gordhan
Photo by: Duane Daws
The Hawks never meant to investigate Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan - he was merely the "suitable man to talk to", the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation said on Monday.
"We would like to set the record straight, put the matter into perspective and state our stance into the entire debacle," the Hawks said in a statement.
"We can confirm that as the Hawks we are investigating a case concerning the alleged illegal operations by a so-called ‘rogue unit’ within the South African Revenue Services (Sars), not Mr Gordhan per se."
He was a commissioner at the South African Revenue Services at the time when a covert unit was allegedly established.
"As part of our thorough investigations into the operations of the said unit we needed some clarity and Mr Gordhan, who was the man at the helm of Sars at that time, was the suitable man to talk to, hence we sent him a set of questions for him to answer.
"We have always stated that as the Hawks we do not conduct our investigations through the media. It is not in the interest of justice when matters under investigations are blown out of proportion, and in the process victimising certain individuals.
"As the Hawks we urge media practitioners, especially journalists and editors to respect the work that we do and stop reporting unsubstantiated information."
Reports emerged on Friday that Gordhan threatened to resign shortly before his budget speech last week after he received a list of 27 questions from the Hawks investigating the operation of a rogue unit at Sars.