A Rhodes-based organisation has won an application to gain access to records relating to the “Travelgate” scandal in which members of Parliament were accused of abusing travel funds in 2004.
The application was made in October last year by the Centre for Social Accountability (CSA) against the speaker of Parliament, for refusal to grant the CSA access to records relating to the incident.
Yesterday, Grahamstown High Court Judge Ziets Alkema ordered that the information be made available within 10 days.
Members of Parliament are issued with travel warrants, and a panel of travel agencies throughout the country were appointed as approved agencies for this scheme.
Many of these firms, in collaboration with individual members, were involved in fraudulent travel transactions whereby Parliament paid them for air tickets which were either not used or were otherwise fraudulently issued. Several of these firms were subsequently liquidated.
The application submitted by the CSA related to the records of Bathong Travel. The CSA used the Promotion of Access to Information Act to take the speaker of Parliament to court over the release of two vital Travelgate documents – held by Bathong Travel.
One contained the names of members with claims against them, while the other related to liquidators’ rights of action against certain members.
Bathong Travel bought all the claims liquidators would have had and essentially bought the privacy of the two documents.
The multi-million Rand scandal was exposed when Parliament’s former chief financial officer, Harry Charlton, blew the whistle on the fraudulent activity.
Several members of Parliament pleaded guilty to the charges in 2005 and were made to pay fines, with suspended sentences. The CSA is an independent institution affiliated with Rhodes University, operating from Grahamstown.
The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) is a programme operating within the CSA that has been involved in social accountability monitoring since 1999, with the aim of holding public officials accountable for their conduct.
A Rhodes-based organisation has won an application to gain access to records relating to the “Travelgate” scandal in which members of Parliament were accused of abusing travel funds in 2004.
The application was made in October last year by the Centre for Social Accountability (CSA) against the speaker of Parliament, for refusal to grant the CSA access to records relating to the incident.
Yesterday, Grahamstown High Court Judge Ziets Alkema ordered that the information be made available within 10 days.
Members of Parliament are issued with travel warrants, and a panel of travel agencies throughout the country were appointed as approved agencies for this scheme.
Many of these firms, in collaboration with individual members, were involved in fraudulent travel transactions whereby Parliament paid them for air tickets which were either not used or were otherwise fraudulently issued. Several of these firms were subsequently liquidated.
The application submitted by the CSA related to the records of Bathong Travel. The CSA used the Promotion of Access to Information Act to take the speaker of Parliament to court over the release of two vital Travelgate documents – held by Bathong Travel.
One contained the names of members with claims against them, while the other related to liquidators’ rights of action against certain members.
Bathong Travel bought all the claims liquidators would have had and essentially bought the privacy of the two documents.
The multi-million Rand scandal was exposed when Parliament’s former chief financial officer, Harry Charlton, blew the whistle on the fraudulent activity.
Several members of Parliament pleaded guilty to the charges in 2005 and were made to pay fines, with suspended sentences. The CSA is an independent institution affiliated with Rhodes University, operating from Grahamstown.
The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) is a programme operating within the CSA that has been involved in social accountability monitoring since 1999, with the aim of holding public officials accountable for their conduct.
