Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Top cop ‘on MEC, gangs’ hitlist’
Vearey claims Plato and crime bosses are smearing his name
IN AN unprecedented move the province’s top gang-buster, MajorGeneral Jeremy Vearey, has gone public about a series of smear campaigns against him, pointing a finger at some of the province’s most feared gang leaders as well as politicians, notably Community Safety MEC Dan Plato.
Vearey, who is provincial police deputy commissioner for detectives, told Weekend Argus yesterday since he’d played a key role in having gang boss Rashied Staggie arrested and convicted for rape, he’d faced death threats from gang kingpins and smear campaigns aimed at denting his reputation.
Vearey warned his “investigations are bringing us increasingly close to politicians and I will go there”.
He said the situation had intensified recently after detectives arrested people accused of selling arms to gangsters and began a probe into corrupt crime intelligence officers.
Vearey spoke out yesterday after several sets of documents were leaked to media, including Weekend Argus.
Sensationally, information in an affidavit reportedly claims Vearey received R2 million from Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence and whom Vearey says he has never met or had dealings with.
A separate document leaked to Weekend Argus about an underworld murder in Strand in January alleges Vearey worked with a suspected gang boss.
This affidavit was compiled at Plato’s offices and carries a Community Safety departmental stamp.
It relates to the murder of Nathaniel Moses, also known as Nigga, a leader of the Mobsters faction of the 28s gang, and claims a high-profile alleged gang leader who ordered Moses’s killing had told Vearey to apply for the position of provincial police commissioner.
The affidavit also alleges a highprofile ANC politician received money from this gang leader to host a party.
Vearey said yesterday this was yet another attempt by Plato to try to falsely implicate him in crimes.
● In 2012 Plato compiled a dossier on conversations he said he (Plato) had with a businessman, Jeffrey Franciscus, who died in a car accident in 2011. Names of police officers, including Vearey’s, appeared in the dossier which claimed Vearey had worked with gang bosses. The dossier, circulated to some journalists, also detailed alleged political plots. None of this was ever substantiated.
● In 2013, Plato provided some journalists with a seemingly explosive affidavit by an informer, Pierre Mark Anthony Wyngaardt, from Tafelsig. It also claimed Vearey was linked to gangsters and alleged sen- ior ANC members and police officers were involved in drug trafficking and other crimes. But when Weekend Argus tracked down Wyngaardt he described himself as a “prophet” who was “guided by angels”.
The director of public prosecu- tions declined to pursue the matter.
Plato said he had never tarnished Vearey’s name and Vearey should simply get on with his investigations. “I’ve got no vendetta against him,” Plato said yesterday.
“If other sources mention (his) name, then he must ask the sources why... I never asked any person to put any information in an affidavit.”
Plato said if he came across information implicating police officers, he alerted the provincial police commissioner in writing and handed the information to the Hawks, as he had done with the information passed on to him recently .
Plato said Vearey needed to be careful when it came to making allegations against politicians.
“He may fall flat on his own face. I can’t help it if people give me information.”
Vearey said yesterday: “I want to warn the MEC: I ignored it before. But I’m going to play this thing out, possibly in the media now.
“I want to warn his office and his political party. None of these mat- ters (I’ve been investigating) had anything to do with politics. I was doing my job…
“If you want us to play this game out in the media, we will, because you forced us in that direction.
“We will go wherever investigations lead us. We are going where the facts lead us. All of the history of what we know about… these things will be exposed.
“Our investigations are bringing us increasingly close to politicians and I will go there.”
Vearey said those running the smear campaigns were intensifying efforts because police were getting closer to uncovering their crimes.
Vearey told Weekend Argus he had over the years investigated several top gangsters, including from the 26s and 28s, inside and outside prison.
About six years ago it emerged gang leaders unhappy about these investigations had conspired to either kill him or discredit him. He had confronted several gang leaders about this.
Vearey said some gangsters mistakenly thought he was targeting only their gang, while others were under the impression he wanted revenge for a cousin he’d witnessed being murdered in 1979.