Not guilty, pleads O’Sullivan

FORENSIC CONSULTANT AND COLLEAGUE DENY RAFT OF CHARGES BY THE HAWKS Allegations include kidnapping, extortion and fraud.

Forensic consultant Paul O’Sullivan and his former colleague, Melissa Naidu, yesterday pleaded not guilty to extortion, fraud, and the the kidnapping of Cora van der Merwe in the Randburg Regional Court, north of Johannesburg.

Gauteng head of the Hawks Major-General Prince Mokotedi and Warrant Officer Kobus Vlok – who are investigating multiple charges against O’Sullivan – were also there to hear it.

O’Sullivan and Naidu are accused of taking Van der Merwe from the chambers of Ronald Bobroff & Partners Incorporated during 2014, in the course of their probe into the leak of documents from the Bobroffs.

The leak to then Moneyweb journalist Tony Beamish had uncovered a fraud of the Road Accident Fund (RAF), estimated at more than R178 million by the fund, committed by Ronald Bobroff and son Darren, both understood to now be in Australia.

The law firm was placed under curatorship and the Bobroffs were disbarred.

Investigating officer Captain Ngwako Mukovhi of the police’s Commercial Crimes Branch, falling under the Hawks, was the first state witness to take the stand.

Defence advocate Zirk Pansegrouw laid the ground work for a malicious prosecution.

Pansegrouw managed to elicit from Mukovhi the accused co-operated “very well” with the investigation, and noted while he was a commercial crimes specialist, the docket was handed to him by Mokotedi, and Vlok was assigned to assist in the probe.

According to Mukovhi, the docket would normally have gone to the police station’s detectives, where it had been registered, saying he didn’t know why he was chosen to investigate it.

The 29-year veteran also stated, in his opinion, there was no basis for the extortion charge, but it was up to the National Prosecuting Authority what charges to bring.

Van der Merwe was the second state witness, and said while working for the Bobroffs, she had uncovered many instances of tax fraud.

She testified she had been advised by advocate Schalk van der Sandt to make copies of all the evidence she uncovered, and had given it to the Hawks, Law Society, and the RAF, as a protected disclosure.

The trial continues today.