Former top cop’s R10m deal

spokesman, confirmed yesterday that a case of theft had been opened by the police.

So far, seven Sita managers have been suspended in connection with the breakin. Five have been directly linked to it.

Petros conceded that his company did not have a valid tax number when it was awarded the contract, but said it later applied for one and got it.

“When the first payment of R3-million was made, there was no VAT number and subsequent to that the VAT was applied for. It’s a section done by SARS and the VAT number was given,” said Petros. The company was registered in 2012. A senior SARS official said: “It would be irregular and highly suspicious in terms of the Public Finance Management Act for a company to get a government tender without a tax number.

“That’s not permissible.”

Nomvalo yesterday defended the decision to appoint Petros’s company.

“The minister, the chairperson and I took a decision to appoint the company even though it wasn’t on our database or had a track record, because we needed someone with experience in the police — someone who can link the information quickly and someone we can trust.”

He said Sita needed more than just the forensic auditors it had on its database.

Nomvalo refused to mention the person who recommended Petros and how they heard of his company.

“You must understand that the burglary wasn’t a pure crime. It was done by highly trained people,” he said.

Sita, which has a budget of R4-billion, has been rocked by controversy since its inception in 2000, including the hacking of government websites. It has had 17 CEOs in the past 14 years. Over the past 24 months, five of the eight executives were suspended. The sixth resigned on Friday.