O’Sullivan turns to the high court to stop agenda-based probe
FORENSIC consultant Paul O’Sullivan has launched an interdict application against top officials at the National Prosecuting Authority, the Hawks, SAPS and the Department of Justice, claiming their investigations into his affairs are politically motivated.
As a result, one of the prosecutors involved, advocate Jabulani Mlotshwa, has refused to continue working on the multiple criminal cases against O’Sullivan until the application in the high court in Pretoria has been resolved.
The application named all the high echelons in the law enforcement agencies as the nine respondents: National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and Acting Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane, Hawks head Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza, Mlotshwa, Gauteng Hawks boss Major-General Prince Mokotedi, advocate Sello Maema and Warrant Officer Kobus Vlok.
O’Sullivan claims they are involved in the alleged plot to bring him down for exposing corruption.
He insists he has been targeted for exposing the alleged corruption of high-ranking officials such as SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni, who he claims is a close friend of President Jacob Zuma.
He alleges that pro-Zuma officials, such as Mokotedi, are finding ways to maliciously prosecute him with trumped-up charges.
The interdict application was submitted this week, and is due to be heard on November 15. The court will decide whether to grant O’Sullivan’s wish that Mokotedi, Maema, Mlotshwa and Vlok not be allowed to probe or prosecute him.
In the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court yesterday, O’Sullivan appeared on the most minor of the charges against him – a breach of the Citizenship Act, after he used his foreign passports to travel outside the country despite also being a South African citizen.
While the case is mid-trial, Mlotshwa told magistrate Wynand Nel that if he continued with the matter while the high court application was pending, he risked being in contempt of court.
However, he pointed out that O’Sullivan, in his application, indicated it would be acceptable for Mlotshwa to continue with the passport matter alone.
He argued that O’Sullivan was trying to order around the NDPP to assign specific prosecutors.
“Who is he to choose? He wants to tell the Republic of South Africa what to do,” he said.
When O’Sullivan requested a date for an application to relax his bail conditions to allow him to attend to business in the UK, Mlotshwa again refused to assist, saying he was not available until November.
When the magistrate asked if Mlotshwa could possibly get another prosecutor to handle the bail application, he also said he was unlikely to have the time.
The magistrate said he would take it upon himself to ensure a prosecutor was available, and postponed the case to October 20.
O’Sullivan also appeared at the same court yesterday in a separate matter alongside previous SAA chief executive Monwabisi Kalawe and Mogale City chief operating officer Abednego Mbulawa. The trio have been charged with extortion, intimidation, fraud, forgery and uttering.
The case was postponed until January. Today, he was due to appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court for two other cases – one of fraud, the other of kidnapping and extortion.