Late statement delays Fadiel Adams testimony

By Palesa Matlala

• Advocate Matthew Chaskalson asked for Fadiel Adams’s testimony to be postponed until next Wednesday after his statement arrived late on Monday night.

• Adams is expected to face questions about confidential Crime Intelligence documents and information linked to the arrests of seven Crime Intelligence officials.

National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams will have to wait longer to face questions at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

Adams was subpoenaed to appear before the commission in Pretoria on Tuesday.

But Advocate Matthew Chaskalson asked for his testimony to be postponed until next Wednesday after Adams submitted his statement late on Monday night.

The delay gives the commission’s evidence team time to study his statement before questioning him.

Chaskalson said there had been months of communication with Adams about getting his statement and his response to evidence concerning him.

“There is a long and lengthy correspondence running through from October last year and then it starts to accelerate through April, May, June and July,” Chaskalson said.

He said the commission had eventually agreed that Adams could submit his statement by Thursday last week.

However, it was only received on Monday night, just hours before he was expected to appear.

Adams’s testimony has attracted attention because several issues raised before the commission involve the National Coloured Congress Member of Parliament.

Some witnesses have implicated Adams in the submission of a Section 27 affidavit which later led to the arrests of seven Crime Intelligence officials.

The commission is expected to give Adams an opportunity to respond to evidence and claims concerning him.

He could also face questions about confidential Crime Intelligence documents which were said to have been slipped under his office door.

The commission has been examining serious claims involving police intelligence and the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption.

Adams has previously come under scrutiny over information he obtained and later handed to investigators.

He has also faced questions over visits to Westville Prison in KwaZulu-Natal.

The state has accused him of misrepresenting his parliamentary status to gain access to the prison by claiming that he was there on official parliamentary business.

Adams interviewed awaiting trial and convicted prisoners linked to the 2017 murder of former African National Congress Youth League secretary Sindiso Magaqa.

He also secretly recorded some prisoners.

Adams faces criminal charges of fraud and defeating the administration of justice linked to his conduct at the prison.

He has rejected suggestions that his actions were criminal or driven by an improper motive.

His evidence before the Madlanga Commission could therefore give him an important opportunity to explain his version.

Questions are also expected about information involving Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo and Adams’s claims about the use of secret Crime Intelligence funds.

The commission is continuing to examine matters involving the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption.

State Advocate Drushantha Ramsamy is continuing her testimony while Adams waits for his appearance.

Ramsamy previously told the commission that she believed Adams should have faced charges for allegedly possessing Crime Intelligence information.

Evidence has also raised questions about whether information supplied by Adams properly fell within the directorate’s legal powers to investigate.

For now, those questions will have to wait.

If the requested postponement is granted, Adams is expected to return next Wednesday, when the commission could finally begin questioning him about the evidence and allegations involving him.

Pictured above: National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams’s appearance before the Madlanga Commission could be postponed until next Wednesday after his statement was submitted late.

Image source: File.