Challenge to order for PI to stop spying on journalists

A FORMER Hawks member employed at a private investigations firm will today challenge an application to make final interim protection orders prohibiting him from conducting any further surveillance on journalists.

Nico Smith‚ the head of investigations and intelligence at Combined Private Investigations (CPI)‚ has been accused of spying on journalists and politicians on behalf of Gupta-linked people‚ with assistance from an employee at a leading cellphone service provider.

The Sunday Times revealed last week that Smith had allegedly gained unlawful access to the cellphone records of Tiso Blackstar editor-at-large Peter Bruce‚ Financial Mail editor Rob Rose and former finance minister Trevor Manuel – all outspoken critics of the Gupta family.

Parts of the records were on the Guptalinked fake news site, wmcleaks.com, on August 13‚ including records of Bank of Baroda chief executive Manoj Khumar Jha‚ in a report that sought to link Manuel‚ Bruce and Rose to influencing Khumar into closing the Gupta family bank accounts with Baroda.

WMCLeaks is run by former Gupta employee Saurabh Agarwal, now in India.

The report also cited a so-called middleman through whom Manuel and Bruce allegedly communicated‚ and attached to this fictitious person a number MTN had confirmed was used for marketing.

Last week, Smith was served with two interim protection orders‚ granted by the Randburg Magistrate’s Court‚ ordering him not to conduct any unlawful surveillance on Bruce and Rose.

The order also asks that WMCLeaks be prohibited from publishing any further defamatory content relating to Bruce.

In July‚ it made public a “leaked report” with ID numbers‚ addresses and cellphone numbers of Bruce and others and‚ while seemingly inaccurate‚ it did reveal that Bruce had been followed last year.

Smith and CPI have denied ever having conducted surveillance on Bruce or accessing the phone records of any journalist or politician – and Smith plans to oppose the orders being made permanent in court today. – TimesLIVE