Questions over alleged payment made to top cop

ADVOCATE Abraham Johannes Botha, who was the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Northern Cape at the time of Project Darling, yesterday continued in the witness box and remained adamant that he had “relied on information supplied by the case’s investigating officer, Warrant Officer Louis Potgieter”, in authorising the Section 252 (A) applications for traps and undercover operations.

These operations led to the arrests of 13 high-profile people in the diamond industry.

Botha yesterday continued under cross-examination by advocate Laurence Hodes in the multimillion-rand illicit diamond buying (IDB) case being heard in the Northern Cape High Court, where the accused were arrested after allegedly being involved in illicit diamond transactions conducted with an undercover agent, Linton Jephta.

Hodes yesterday asked Botha why, when according to Jephta’s statement (handed in support of Section 252 (A) applications) he had paid R40 000 to Colonel Danie Bruwer, was he (Bruwer) not arrested.

In the statement, Jephta indicated that he was instructed to go to the door of a house in El Toro Park and give R40 000 to “that man”.

“The man I gave the money to was Danie Bruwer,” the statement reads.

Botha replied by saying that investigations were done in this regard but that there were not enough grounds to prosecute, adding that “nothing had happened” to Bruwer and that, as far as he knew, Bruwer was still employed in the SAPS.

“If there was truth in the allegations made by Jephta (about Bruwer), he should have been investigated,” Hodes stated.

Hodes further asked why Jephta was authorised as an agent when he had motive (a grudge against one of the accused) and had, by his own admission, broken the law (when he robbed one of the accused of diamonds).

“Potgieter assured me that he had verified all information (given by Jephta) and that we could rely on him as an agent,” Botha said.

Hodes went on to enquire about what Botha did to more closely monitor Jephta, in accordance with the provisions of Section 252 (A), that states, “where private individuals are to be used as agents, the monitoring process must be more stringent in order to ensure that they operate within the parameters of the guidelines and in terms of their handlers’ instructions”.

Botha said that he had told Potgieter “to handle it very carefully” and comply with the provisions of Section 252.

“I specifically mentioned it again and emphasised that the agent should be properly trained in the provisions of Section 252,” Botha said.

Botha concluded by saying that while he had not met Jephta during the project, Jephta had shown up without an appointment “about four or five months ago” and complained to him about money, saying he was “fed up with the police”.

“I then referred him back to Potgieter’s commander, Lieutenant-Colonel De Witt Botha,” Botha stated.

The trial is expected to continue in the Northern Cape High Court today.