Forensic consultant held for impersonation

CONTROVERSIAL forensic consultant Paul O’Sullivan was arrested last night – allegedly on the same charge as his attorney, Sarah Jane Trent.

Trent was taken into custody last week for allegedly impersonating an officer of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).

Last night, AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel confirmed that O’Sullivan was arrested on the same charges.

Kriel said he was convinced the charges were trumped up and said an urgent application was set to take place at the North Gauteng High Court last night to secure bail for O’Sullivan. The outcome of the urgent bail application was unavailable by the time of publication.

Kriel also insisted that O’Sullivan had been granted a court order in November that police would have to give him at least 48 hours’ notice if he were to be arrested, an order that was allegedly ignored by the South African Police Service (SAPS) last night.

O’Sullivan came under fire by the Hawks at the weekend over a report where he alleged a large number of top officials were involved in criminal activities.

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said in a statement: “Of all the things this so-called document had speculated, Lieutenant-General Mthandazo Ntlemeza is more concerned about the malicious, baseless accusations which seek to compromise or to undermine the sovereignty of the country, calculatingly destabilise the justice system, make wild accusations against senior government officials, journalists, business people and, more importantly, dent the image of the South African Police Service and the DPCI, the elite crime fighting unit which he leads.”

In the report, which was released last year, O’Sullivan claimed that President Jacob Zuma had taken control of the justice system to ensure the charges faced by him, members of his family and their associates, are diverted. – Staff Reporter