‘Raid has traumatised my family’
Ex-top cop disputes the warrant used in search
Embattled former acting police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane has hit back at police raids at his home by disputing the authenticity of the search warrant used.
On Monday, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) investigators and the Hawks raided seven properties, including Phahlane’s home, as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption and money laundering involving the former top cop.
Now Phahlane claims that Ipid and the Hawks investigators harassed his two daughters, aged 20 and 17, who were on their way to a doctor’s appointment.
“The investigators contacted my two daughters who were driving to see a doctor. My daughters returned home and were aggressively interrogated because they demanded to know their parents’ whereabouts. My daughters were not allowed to leave freely,” he said.
Phahlane said his wife Beauty had to remove their two other daughters aged 14 and 10 from the scene after they witnessed their mother being frisked by male investigators. He said the investigators wanted to humiliate and traumatise his wife and children.
Phahlane denies any wrongdoing and said everything the investigators found was supposed to be in his house.
“They took financial statements which I was given by a source regarding irregular financial transactions involving Ipid head Robert McBride while he was still head of Ekurhuleni Metro Police.
“Four cellphones belonging to my children, two cellphones belonging to my wife, one belonging to me, two laptops and iPads, were also taken,” Phahlane said.
Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini refused to comment on an ongoing investigation.
Phahlane said his white MercedesBenz, Land Rover and correspondence between forensic investigator Paul O’ Sul- livan and Ipid, which he claims proves that O’Sullivan was still actively involved in investigations by Ipid, were also taken.
Sowetan has seen a letter by Phahlane’s lawyers, BDK Attorneys, to the Sinoville police based investigating officer, Colonel Kobus Roelofse, who allegedly led the raids on Phahlane’s house in Sabie Hill Waterfront Estate, Pretoria.
Phahlane claimed the application for the search warrant at his house was defective.
“It is clear to us that the investigation is hopelessly misguided and is being pursued in a direction that does not display objectivity or independence. The affidavit relies wholesale on hearsay, speculation and misdirection,” he said.
Phahlane said the application on its own does not support or make a case for the search and seizure warrant on his home. According to BDK Attorneys, the warrant itself was overboard and unlawful.