A leaked National Intelligence Agency (NIA) document - which accused some Scorpions of spying for foreign governments and using private security companies with links to apartheid spooks and security police - has been officially disowned by the cabinet.

This follows the cabinet's fortnightly meeting on Wednesday and comes amid public hearings into the future of the Scorpions.

The cabinet said it wished to distance the government from statements, particularly leaks to the media, of documents or information with "no official standing within government, which seek to question the integrity of officials employed in the DSO (Directorate of Special Operations) and to cast aspersions on co-operation that our institutions have with their international counterparts".

The leaked confidential document has added to the tensions between the NIA and the Scorpions, with the spy organisation effectively accusing the elite crime-busting unit of dishonesty.

The NIA argued at the Khampepe Commission this week that the document was unsigned and had been withdrawn from the Khampepe Commission, but that the Scorpions nevertheless responded to it and that it was leaked to the media.

With acknowledgement to The Star.