Bust intelligence officer linked to Phahlane

Cop has criminal record for robbery

A covert crime intelligence agent’s arrest for allegedly looting a multi-million rand police secret slush fund has thrown the spotlight on former acting national SAPS commissioner Khomotso Phahlane.

The policeman was arrested by Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) officers yesterday as he was meeting his parole officer.

Justice Department documents seen by TimesLIVE show that the policeman was released on parole from Groenpunt Maximum Security Prison in November 2015‚ where he had been serving a 10year sentence for an armed robbery in Mamelodi in 1994.

Convicted in 1996‚ he failed to surrender to prison officials when he lost his appeal‚ but joined the police’s crime intelligence unit instead.

He began his 10-year sentence after he was arrested in February 2013 for a cash-intransit heist in Sasolburg. Although found not guilty‚ according to sources‚ he was imprisoned for the 1994 armed robbery. On his release in 2015‚ he rejoined the police in his former post in the covert crime intelligence section.

According to the SA Police Union president Mpho Kwinika‚ the policeman’s reappointment could only have been sanctioned by the national police commissioner. At the time of the appointment‚ Phahlane would have been the man in charge.

Ipid and police sources said it needed to be asked how someone with a criminal conviction could be allowed to join the SAPS. Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini said the policeman would appear in Pretoria Magistrate’s Court today.