South Africa

Politics, South Africa

House of Cards: Phahlane turns to court to interdict IPID and O’Sullivan

House of Cards: Phahlane turns to court to interdict IPID and O’Sullivan

After defending himself against allegations of mismanagement, fraud and corruption at Parliament’s police committee earlier this month, acting police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane has turned to the courts. On Monday Phahlane filed an application with the Pretoria High Court seeking to interdict IPID executive head Robert McBride, private investigator Paul O’Sullivan, O’Sullivan’s lawyer Sarah Jane Trent and magistrate JR Tsatsi, who signed a search warrant for Phahlane’s R8-million home in the Sable Hills Waterfront Estate in Pretoria. Phahlane is seeking to set aside the warrant, restrict O’Sullivan’s involvement in the probe and charges that IPID has not complied with its statutory duties. By MARIANNE THAMM.

At this stage it is not clear whether Phahlane – who has found himself the centre of an IPID investigation into various charges of defeating the ends of justice, possible corruption in relation to his R8-million home, the purchase of several vehicles as well as a R80,00o sound system sold to him through a SAPS service provider – has launched the application in his personal capacity or as acting SAPS commissioner.

This is a relevant detail in the unfolding drama playing out against a much larger and desperate national political backdrop and which loops back, in parts, to allegations of State Capture, the destabilisation of SARS and SAPS as well as allegations of the alleged criminalisation and capture of institutions that form central part of South African’s criminal justice system.

What is striking about Phahlane’s application on Monday is that it was filed on his behalf by one of the country’s oldest, most notable and expensive firm of criminal defence attorneys, BDK. The firm represented not only the convicted Czech underworld figure Radovan Krejcir and his co-accused Boris Grigorov, but also Mikey Schultz, Nigel McGurk and Faizel Smith, the three men accused of killing mining magnate and ANC blesser Brett Kebble. It also represented apartheid killer Ferdie Barnard, millionaire businessman Zunaid Moti, who faced charges of murder and robbery, and even President Jacob Zuma when he faced corruption charges in 2009.

If SAPS (and South African taxpayers) are footing the bill for Phahlane’s court action then he would have had to apply SAPS strict procurement procedures to secure the services of BDK. If the acting commissioner has taken this fight to the courts in his personal capacity it is he who will have to foot the hefty bill. At the time of writing SAPS had not confirmed in which capacity Phahlane had launched the application.

The two main protagonists who are the focus of the acting commissioner’s application are IPID executive director Robert McBride and forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan. For more than a decade O’Sullivan’s name has been linked to a myriad investigations into alleged corruption at the highest levels of the South African Police Service, the NPA as well as Criminal Intelligence. O’Sullivan lodged many of these with IPID before the lifting by the courts of McBride’s illegal suspension by Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko, but none of the cases were investigated.

The Irish-born forensic investigator’s role in the conviction of former Police Chief, Jackie Selebi, a role Phahlane in his court papers claims has been “exaggerated”, has in fact been acknowledged by McBride. One of the first public statements McBride made after he was appointed executive head of IPID was to apologise to O’Sullivan for the shoddy treatment he had received from IPID in relation to Selebi. That was, of course, before McBride was suspended in 2015 after being accused of tampering with an IPID report into former Hawks head Anwa Dramat’s role in the “illegal Zimbabwean rendition” matter.

It was O’Sullivan, a former police reservist who also lectured at the Houghton Reserve Police College, who once handed now Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa a “most conscientious student award” after Ramaphosa had completed a course.

In his court papers Phahlane makes public a series of e-mails with attached affidavits O’Sullivan has written over the course of at least two years alleging serious charges of fraud and criminality among high-ranking police officials.

The investigator has opened dockets against, among others, current Hawks head Lieutenant-General Mthandazo Ntlemeza, former Divisional Commissioner of the South African police Service’s Detective Service, Lieutenant-General Vinesh Moonoo, and, of course, Phahlane himself.

O’Sullivan has claimed it is because of his investigations into these powerful top cops that he was detained on April 1 at OR Tambo International Airport on a charge relating to the possession of three legally issued passports. O’Sullivan is also being investigated on charges of treason and espionage.

O’Sullivan was often publicly vilified during his “crusade” against Selebi and was labelled a “madman”, “unhinged” or a “CIA” or “foreign” agent by his detractors. These are all claims that have once again surfaced in the battle between O’Sullivan and Phahlane.

In his court papers filed on Monday Phahlane describes O’Sullivan as “a deranged individual” and “a nutcase”.

On Thursday February 2, Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko – who has admitted to irregularly appointing controversial Hawks head Ntlemeza – accompanied Phahlane to his presentation to Parliament’s police committee. Nhleko revived charges that allegations of criminality in the SAPS are driven by outside interests.

You have a huge foreign interest still in controlling the criminal justice system, the police being one of those… we are told directly and by proxy,” said Nhleko.

Phahlane had opted to testify before Parliament’s committee with regard to an independent forensic report that probed claims of mismanagement and fraud brought by police union Popcru against Phahlane in his former role as head of the SAPS forensics division. The report dismissed these claims and the matter was “finalised”, according to Brigadier Lindie Kleinhans of Phahlane’s office, who presented it to MPs.

Throughout his presentation Phahlane, his colleagues and the minister maintained his innocence, saying that attempts to smear him were “part of an orchestrated campaign”.

What Phalane failed to answer, however, and it is a question that will no doubt be raised in subsequent committee meetings, is whether it was ethical for the acting commissioner of police to do personal business – the purchase of an R80,000 sound system – from a service provider to SAPS and that this presented a clear conflict of interest.

IPID is expected to appear before the committee next month. MPs last week called for O’Sullivan to be summoned. The investigator has said he is happy to present to the committee.

What the Hawks and SAPS have failed to do is investigate the extremely serious allegations O’Sullivan has made with regard to the role of the now retired Moonoo and his alleged connection to underworld figures. O’Sullivan set out these links, as well as others, in his presentation “Joining the Dots” which he made to Afriforum in November 2016. O’Sullivan will soon be working with NPA prosecutor Gerrie Nel who announced his shock resignation last week to join a new private prosecutions unit to be set up by Afriforum.

Daily Maverick has asked Moonoo, in an SMS, to respond to allegations that he accompanied Taiwanese businessman Robert Huang, director of Mpisi Trading (linked to Jacob Zuma’s family), convicted murderer and alleged tax evader, money launderer and underworld figure, on several trips to China while he (Moonoo) was still employed by SAPS. Moonoo’s visit was covered by a local newspaper in which he is described as being introduced as the “Vice-President of Mpisi”. Moonoo had, at the time of writing, not responded.

What Phahlane is essentially seeking from the court now is for the warrant issued by Magistrate Tsatsi in December for the search of his home to be set aside. He also states that IPID had failed to comply with their statutory duties and that the involvement of O’Sullivan had interfered with the investigation. The acting commissioner states that he does not wish to stop the IPID probe, only it should happen sans O’Sullivan, who should be interdicted from communicating with Phahlane in any form, be barred from entering the estate in which the acting commissioner’s home is situated and be prevented from publishing any information with regard to Phahlane, his professional conduct “as a police officer and as the National Commissioner of Police” or his “private life circumstances”.

The application, which Phahlane has requested be granted with costs, will be heard on May 17.

O’Sullivan said he was “delighted” by the acting commissioner’s application and would be responding. IPID has responded that it will be defending itself “if a summons is served”. DM

Photo: Paul O’Sullivan (Sally Shorkend), Ipid’s Robert McBride (EPA) and acting police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane (News24)

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