Top brass take the shine off the Hawks

A senior officer with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), Kobus Roelofse, told the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo yesterday of the frustrations he experienced in his attempts to obtain documents that were incorrectly classified to cover up illegal activity and protect certain senior police officials.

Roelofse was giving evidence relating to activities of highly placed officers in crime intelligence, a murder investigation involving former intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and the alleged looting of the secret services account.

He told Zondo he believed certain documents were incorrectly classified to halt his investigation and to ensure the non-prosecution of police members involved in illegal transactions at the secret services account, which he was probing.

Roelofse said on March 21, 2011, he attended a meeting with acting head of the Hawks, Lieutenant-General Yolisa Matakata – the major-general at the time and head of the Hawks in the Western Cape – along with Major-General Shadrack Sibiya, Gauteng provincial commissioner Mzwandile Petros and Colonel Peter Janse Viljoen.

At the meeting, Sibiya requested that the Hawks in the Western Cape take over an investigation involving Mdluli, who faced charges of murder, attempted murder, intimidation, kidnapping, assault and defeating the ends of justice.

Roelofse said he and Viljoen were approached by members of the police, asking to meet in clandestine locations because they were scared and had been asked to stop asking questions.

The information included allegations that Mdluli used secret services account money to buy luxury vehicles, including an ML Mercedes-Benz and a 3-Series BMW, which were found at his home during a search and seizure in 2011. Mdluli used the BMW.

The purchase of the vehicles was approved by former police Major-General Solomon Lazarus and arranged by Colonel Henie Bernard.

Money that was supposed to accrue to crime intelligence in the form of discounts for the purchasing of the vehicles, estimated at R80 000 or R90 000, was used to settle Mdluli’s outstanding debt on a private vehicle.

Bernard was apparently later arrested.

Soon after Mdluli’s appointment in July 2009, he requested that Colonel Jakobus Roos and others conduct investigations into the secret services account, focusing on Lazarus as chief financial officer of the account.

However, Roos had difficulty obtaining documents he needed.

On December 3, 2009, Mdluli halted the investigation.