Claims President Cyril Ramaphosa is being investigated for money-laundering bizarre: Chauke

Reports which suggest that President Cyril Ramaphosa and the CR17 campaign were being investigated for money-laundering were bizarre, said a former CR17 campaign manager, Bejani Chauke.

Chauke was responding to a Sunday Times report which said public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was investigating Ramaphosa for alleged money-laundering of donations of more than R400m to his ANC presidential campaign.

Chauke said on Monday the CR17 campaign was funded by a broad range of individuals from across South Africa, who supported the objectives of the campaign.

“These funds were paid into accounts established for this purpose and were used to cover the costs of the campaign, such as stipends, travelling, communications and promotional material, meeting venues and accommodation. In the process, all legal and regulatory requirements were met,” Chauke said.

He said there was no basis whatsoever for even a suspicion of money-laundering.

“As the former campaign managers of CR17, we have been assisting the public protector in her investigation and have been available to explain the nature of the campaign’s operations and funding,” Chauke said.

He said it was significant that, in addition to the entirely baseless claims of money-laundering, the amounts referred to in media reports were wholly inaccurate.

“We are concerned that claims of this nature are being drip fed into the public space with the clear intention to damage the reputation of the president and to create uncertainty.”