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Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma insisted on Wednesday that he knows nothing about billions of dollars reportedly cached in South Africa by former Libyan dictator Muammar Gadaffi.
Responding to questions on the matter in the National Assembly on Wednesday, he repeatedly told MPs: "I don't know."
Zuma said the presidency was approached by officials from the Libyan government "regarding purported sums of money allegedly deposited on behalf of the late Gadaffi, and held by banking institutions in South Africa".
He said these officials had been referred to the finance ministry.
The Treasury admitted in a statement last week that Gadaffi assets, including diamonds, gold and cash to the value of about R10bn, would be returned to Libya in accordance with UN guidelines.
Zuma was asked in the House on Wednesday about the reported involvement of ANC security head Tito Maleka in the repatriation of the money.
"Can you shed light on the connection between the ANC party and the recovery of the money?" asked Congress of the People MP Leonard Ramatlakane.
'I don't know'
The president responded: "With regard to [this], I don't know. This has not come to my ears, that some ANC head of security was involved. So I don't know about it."
City Press newspaper reported on Sunday that Gadaffi may have stockpiled about R100bn in South Africa and its neighbouring states.
It said two Libyan factions were at the centre of a fight over the slain dictator's hidden assets.
The newspaper also reported the alleged involvement of Maleka in Libyan attempts to recover the money.
Asked if he could say to whom the money actually belonged, Zuma said he also did not know.
"With regard to whether the money belongs to Gadaffi, or the [Libyan] state, I also don't know. I don't know how this money came here [or] who is the owner of it.
"The only thing I've answered is that Libyan officials have come asking for what they know was here.
"As to whether it belongs to an individual or the state, I don't know."
To a further question on why the money was in South Africa, Zuma also had no answer.
"I don't know why Gadaffi or Libya's money is here. I don't know. I was never involved in what caused the money to be here," he said.
