Top cops’ court brawl
INJUNCTION: IPID HEAD SEEKS COURT RULING TO HALT INVESTIGATION
Members of the police currently under investigation by officers of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate have been asked to probe their investigators, claims Ipid head Robert McBride in court documents.
Top cops named in bizarre merry-goround over arrests of O’Sullivan and Trent.
Members of the police currently under investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) have been tasked to investigate their investigators.
This is the startling claim made by Ipid head Robert McBride in court documents filed in the High Court in Pretoria yesterday.
McBride is seeking a court injunction to prevent the investigators being investigated by their subjects.
He’s named Major-General Ntebo Jan Mabula, Brigadier Daniel Pharasa Ncube, Lieutenant-Colonel Ismail Dawood, Brigadier Cliford Matome Kgorane, Colonel SM Reddy and Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phalane as respondents.
Except for Phahlane, all the others occupy senior positions in the North West province and are under investigation for their involvement in forensic consultant Paul O’Sullivan and Sarah Jane Trent’s arrests.
The Citizen has also seen a memorandum to acting director of public prosecutions advocate George Baloyi, dated May 31, 2017 and signed off by deputy directors of public prosecutions FW van der Merwe and HE van Jaarsveld.
They found in the arrests of O’Sullivan and Trent there were prima facie grounds for contempt of court, kidnapping, fraud, intimidation, theft of a cellphone and defeating the ends of justice cases against Ncube and Dawood.
“I have to make it clear that in my view a failure to prosecute will be an injustice to the complainants and the public at large,” the memo stated.
“If it is decided not to proceed with prosecution for whatever reason, care should be taken that the decision will withstand the requirements for a nolle prosequi [decline to prosecute] certificate. The possible delictual liability of the NPA should also be taken into account,” the memo concluded.
The National Prosecuting Authority did not respond to a request for comment as to why no action had been taken, nearly six months later.
Van der Merwe and Van Jaarsveld had questions about O’Sullivan’s arrest in spite of a court order preventing this.
They asked on what evidence the warrant of arrest for O’Sullivan was issued, whether the person who signed it on behalf of the director of public prosecutions had information pertaining to the warrant, and pointed out it was unclear who had signed the warrant.
However, according to a tape recording, said state advocates, it was an advocate Mashuga who had signed off on the warrant and they recommended a statement be taken from him.
McBride wants the application for the interdict to start on November 28. –
A failure to prosecute will be an injustice.
The Independent Police Investigative Directive (Ipid) has asked National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams to review his decision not to prosecute former Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Kgomotso Phahlane, pictured, on a charge of defeating the ends of justice.
Last week, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced its decision not to prosecute on the charge, citing the unlikelihood of a successful prosecution.
But Ipid told parliament last week it felt it had a strong case against the suspended top cop.
Responding to questions regarding the NPA’s decision, Ipid head Robert McBride also added that not only had the Saps been raiding Ipid offices in Gauteng, but that this had increased after Ipid went after the Phahlane case.
He said while Phahlane was “employing delaying tactics”, Ipid was close to finalising the case.
The announcement came after a leaked document from Ipid revealed new allegations of money laundering in the police watchdog’s ongoing investigation into Phahlane’s alleged corrupt relationships with Saps suppliers.
The document, a letter addressed to acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Lesetja Mothiba, alleged that in addition to the two Saps suppliers Phahlane was supposedly accepting kickbacks from, a third supplier had been named.
It was alleged that while Jolanta Komodolowicz, owner of the company Kriminalistik, allegedly paid for an R80 000 sound system for the cop, and car dealer Durand Snyman sponsored cars to Phahlane, Keith Keating, owner of Forensic Data Analytics, was involved in transactions with Durant for the benefit of Phahlane, including more than R1 million sent to a Namibian bank account belonging to Snyman.
While all parties have denied the allegations, Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini told The Citizen their investigators had turned their focus on Keating.
“The case against Lieutenant-General Phahlane is strong and the investigation is now focusing on a corrupt relationship between Phahlane and Keating,” he said.
NPA spokesperson advocate Luvuyo Mfaka yesterday confirmed that Abrahams is busy reviewing the decision not to institute a prosecution in the matter.