Categories: South Africa

Let the truth come out once and for all – Hawks

Shocked by her arrest and her wrists still bruised from handcuffs, Sarah-Jane Trent will appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges of impersonating a member of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.

Trent is forensic consultant Paul O’Sullivan’s forensic and loss control consultant, who swore yesterday her arrest was not the end of his long running feud with “corrupt authorities”.

O’Sullivan was also arrested on Monday evening, though the charge was not immediately clear.

“We will not stop,” O’Sullivan told The Citizen on Monday. “There are many other police officers who belong behind bars instead.”

Trent’s appearance means it will apparently be the first time she would be formally informed of the nature of the charges against her.

According to her attorney Louis Taljard, on Sunday evening during Trent’s “application within the ambit of Section 35(3)(d) of the Constitution aimed at obtaining immediate release of a person unlawfully detained”, he was denied access to Trent and claimed further she had been arrested because she had laid charges against acting national commissioner Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane.

It’s an old maxim if you can’t get what you want, you go after the next best thing and, on the face of it, with a court order from last year issued in the Pretoria High Court preventing O’Sullivan’s arrest without 48 hours notification (which now appears to have been ignored), it seems Trent’s arrest falls into this category.

It’s a modus operandi previously exercised by the police when former top prosecutor Gerrie Nel was arrested while O’Sullivan was going after the then police commissioner, the late Jackie Selebi.

Coincidentally, the person who arrested Nel, Major General NJ Mabula, is believed to be the same person who arrested Trent.

Given that Phahlane knew where to find her when he issued summons in his interdict, as well as being an admitted attorney, Trent said, her late Friday arrest by 13 police officers was nothing more than intimidation.

Trent refused to comment further, and said all would come out in court tomorrow.

Meanwhile, national head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) Lieutenant General Mthandazo Ntlemeza noted in a statement on Sunday “with absolute bewilderment, the media reports as well as the so-called ‘Joining The Dots’ document”.

The document was released on 1 December, 2016, by AfriForum and O’Sullivan and purports to tie up many of the loose ends around prominent South Africans holding high office, or those close to those who are.

“With O’Sullivan having proved himself over the years that he is too forward and never thinks twice in his endless attempts to claim glory; if the contents of his so-called report had any substance, the man would have already opened hundreds of dockets against the people he had pointed fingers at, in his document,” Ntlemeza said through his spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi on Sunday.

However, The Citizen found there were numerous dockets against many people opened by O’Sullivan, and according to a parliamentary question by the DA’s Zak Mbhele, O’Sullivan isn’t the only one.

Durban Central CAS 617/09/2015 – fraud, crimen injuria and defamation of character – against Ntlemeza was opened by suspended KwaZulu-Natal head of the Hawks Major General JW Booysen. That case is still under investigation.

Polokwane CAS 478/09/2015 – fraud, uttering and corruption – against Ntlemeza was opened by Lieutenant Boitumelo Ramahlaha. The Director of Public Prosecutions declined to prosecute, however, Ipid is still investigating.

Silverton CAS 500/05/2016 – defeating the ends of justice and corruption – was also opened against Ntlemeza by Ramahlaha. The matter is with the state’s public prosecutor for decision.

Sandton CAS 943/10/2016 – perjury – against Ntlemeza was opened by Booysen. It is still under investigation by Ipid.

Cases laid by O’Sullivan include:

Silverton CAS 369/10/2012 – perjury, defeating the ends of justice, section 32 of national prosecuting authority act – against Lawrence Mwrebi, suspended deputy head of the National Prosecuting Authority Nomgcobo Jiba, General Richard Mdluli and others.

Linden CAS 107/2/2014 – corruption – relates to an allegedly fraudulent contract between a tracking company and the police, apparently signed off by retired head of detectives Lieutenant General Vinesh Moonoo.

Randburg CAS 301/5/2015 – perjury, defeating the ends of justice, fraud and corruption – against Monoo, Warrant Officer Kobus Vlok and SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni.

Pretoria Central CAS 1900/5/2015 – corruption, defeating the ends of justice, and breaches of section 32 of the national prosecuting authority act – against Monoo and Jiba.

In October last year, O’Sullivan’s lawyer wrote a letter to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa offering his testimony against Monoo, Joey Mabasa (involved with the Lolly Jackson murder), Mdluli and another.

Then of course there is the plethora of dockets opened recently against Phahlane with regards to his home and decoration thereof, as well as dockets against Gauteng Hawks head Major General Prince Mokotedi, and Ntlemeza over his appointment of Mokotedi, among others.

One recent case of contempt of court, fraud, and defeating the ends of justice was registered at Johannesburg Central in October last year – CAS 904-10-2016 – against Vlok, Monoo, Mokotedi and others, of which Phahlane was informed per email by O’Sullivan’s legal team.

Also read: Paul O’Sullivan’s assistant Trent out on bail

“I am satisfied that I have acted honourably throughout and have made extreme sacrifices, so that Mandela’s vision for this country can be realised,” O’Sullivan said in a statement on Sunday.

“This corruption affects the poorest of the poor and cannot be allowed to continue any longer. Another day of this looting is a day too long.”

Mulaudzi said on Monday there was nothing confusing about Ntlemeza’s statement.

“How many of this so/called cases have seen the light in court? Some are simple and straightforward whilst others complex as they are made to be.

“By now some of them should have been finalised, and what is the hold? To continue to drag people’s names in the mud through so called “pending cases”.

General Ntlemeza was ordered to give warning statements last year and cooperated with the authorities. If there is any wrongdoing I’m quite sure he should be appearing in court as we speak,” Mulaudzi said.

“We are still expecting more and this kind of behavior clogs the crime administration system unnecessaryilu and has a negative outlook on the crime stats.

“Let the truth come out once and for all. That is what the country and everyone, including ourselves, wants.”