Phahlane lied McBride –
IPID BOSS TELLS MPs TOP COP MISLED PARLIAMENT ‘PROOF OF PAYMENT’ FOR SOUND SYSTEM QUESTIONED
INDEPENDENT Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) executive director Robert McBride has laid bare a relationship between Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and the acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane which could land them in hot water.
Appearing for the first time since his return from suspension before the police portfolio committee in parliament yesterday, McBride did not beat about the bush in detailing how Phahlane seemed to enjoy unwavering support from Nhleko, while he struggled to get him to read his reports.
“It’s difficult to envisage that the minister will take our recommendations seriously. When we send our monthly reports, they get sent back to us,” McBride said
McBride made it clear that the rift between himself and Nhleko, who has attempted to have him removed from his post on the basis that their relationship had broken down, ran deep.
He detailed how he believed the arrests of private investigator Paul O’Sullivan and his assistant were an attempt to disrupt their investigation, an act of intimidation and contravened the sections of the Ipid Act which guarantee independence.
O’Sullivan was arrested on Monday, accused of impersonating an Ipid officer, soon after his assistant Sarah Jane Trent was arrested on Friday.
McBride said Phahlane had falsely claimed there had been a security breach when O’Sullivan, with Ipid investigators, had gone to the private estate where Phahlane lives. Even if there had been, he said, Phahlane should have contacted protection services and not a police unit “known for their torture tactics” as he had done.
He said that they also had documentary proof that Phahlane had misled Parliament when he told them he had not been informed about the allegations against him.
The committee also heard that while Phahlane told them he had provided proof of payment for the R80 000 sound system provided by a SAPS supplier, what he had actually provided was an e-mail in which he indicated that he had instructed his bankers to pay.
Chief director of investigations for Ipid Matthews Seseko claimed they had evidence that the person listed as a payment reference was a member of the company that had supplied it.
He also raised questions about Nhleko’s role in the transfer of former acting head of Ipid Israel Kgamanyane into a top job with a major-general rank at the Hawks, even though Ipid had not approved the transfer.
Questioned about whether there were any regulatory problems with this transfer, McBride said: “It is a transgression of that independence if the minister can offer jobs to people in the DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation)”, saying this came across as “if you do my bidding, I will reward you”.
McBride told the committee the investigation into Phahlane was at an “advanced stage” and denied Phahlane’s allegations that O’Sullivan had been contracted to work on the case with Ipid.
He said O’Sullivan was merely the complainant in the case, helping them with information, and that they had documentary proof that Phahlane had misled parliament by saying he had not been informed about the allegations against him.
McBride said they could prove Phahlane had met with Kgamanyane who had gone to discuss the charges with him.
“And, unfortunately, for Phahlane, we have transcripts and recordings of every interview and at no point is [O’Sullivan] identified as an Ipid or as a police officer.”