The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said The World Bank “will investigate the corruption scandal surrounding Hitachi and African National Congress front-company‚ Chancellor House”.

In a statement‚ party leader Mmusi Maimane said the bank’s “integrity vice-president‚ Leonard McCarthy‚ has acceded” to its request and “is looking into the matter and assessing ‘whether World Bank funds were put at risk due to the actions of the parties identified in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil action’ ”.

This follows Hitachi agreeing to pay a $19-million penalty to the SEC to settle charges of corrupt payments to the ANC’s Chancellor House‚ amounting to $6-million‚ in order to secure Eskom contracts to build power stations.

“The contracts were subsequently paid for with a loan provided by the World Bank to Eskom‚ with the effect that World Bank funds ended up in ANC coffers‚” Maimane said.

“We welcome the World Bank’s decision to investigate and urge them to take action to recover any funds that found their way to the ANC.”

The statement comes a day ahead of the party’s planned “mass rally outside Chancellor House in protest of the abuse of power by the ANC that has devastated the economy and the legitimacy of the state”.

The World Bank probe is the just one avenue the DA has followed on the Hitachi issue‚ having also requested investigations by the Public Protector‚ the Special Investigative Unit and laid criminal charges against Chancellor House.

The party said it will “also be raising the matter in Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts‚ which is tasked with ensuring the legitimate spending of public funds”.

Leonards was the head of the now-defunct Directorate of Special Operations‚ which was also known as the Scorpions.