BREAKING: Suspended KZN Hawks head leaves SAPS

Embattled KZN Hawks head Johan Booysen has taken early retirement after reaching a settlement with the police.

The career cop had been in a protracted legal battle with the SAPS to occupy his position as provincial Hawks boss.

Booysen maintains that he was sidelined after his investigation into politically connected businessman Thoshan Panday‚ who had been allegedly shielded by now-suspended provincial police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni.

• Cato Manor cop tries to halt indictmentSuspended KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysen has accused national director of public prosecutions Shaun Abrahams of lying about having applied his mind properly when he authorised racketeering charges in the so-called Cato Manor "death squad" case. 

Panday and his web of companies had banked millions in police procurement contracts‚ which had become the subject of an investigation into his activities and his links to top police officials.

Booysen on Tuesday confirmed that he had reached a settlement with police management and would bow out‚ several months before his scheduled retirement in July. But he would not comment further.

• You're lying‚ suspended KZN Hawks head tells NPP's Shaun AbrahamsSuspended KZN Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysen has accused National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams of lying about having applied his mind properly and fairly when he authorised racketeering charges in the so-called Cato Manor “death squad” case. 

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi referred comments to national police spokesperson Sally de Beer who requested questions in writing. Neither were immediately aware of the latest development.

Booysen and members of the Cato Manor Serious and Violent Crimes Unit were arrested in 2012 on allegations that they had been running a “death squad”.

They face a litany of charges including theft and murder‚ specifically of suspects during the course of their arrests.

They allegedly killed these suspects or rivals of taxi operators they were doing business with and planted weapons to create the impression that the killings were justified – collecting incentive awards for good work as reward.

The cost of prosecuting the officers‚ who have been suspended on full pay since their arrest in 2012‚ continues to mount and is estimated to be in the tens of millions.

Booysen has successfully had racketeering charges against him set aside‚ only to have them reinstated by National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams in February last year.

This week Booysen fired off another legal salvo at Abrahams‚ part of a fresh application to review the racketeering charges.

- TMG Digital/The Times