According to the incident report compiled by the clerk at the hospital's nephrology department - where Selebi had been treated for kidney failure and diabetes since February - the file disappeared on the morning of July 23.

The clerk says she left her office for about two minutes and when she returned the file was gone.

"When I came back, somebody had taken one file out of my office."

Selebi - who was sentenced in 2010 to 15 years in prison for corruption - was discharged from the hospital last month, a day after Correctional Services Minister S'bu Ndebele announced his release on medical parole after serving 229 days of his sentence.

The file disappeared on the day Selebi was due back at the hospital for dialysis.

The clerk says she looked for the file that whole afternoon.

The following day, she decided to go and look for the file in the office of the hospital's CEO, Dr Ernest Kenoshi.

But "when I stepped out of my office, I saw a file on the table in front of my office. It was the file of Selebi, the missing one. It was not [bound] the way I did it."

The clerk did not say whether any medical records were missing from the file.

The hospital's deputy CEO, Dr Mathabo Mathebula, confirmed the incident but said the file was merely misplaced.

"Yes, part of Selebi's file was misplaced for a while . and was found among other files without any missing documents," Mathebula said.

Selebi's release was controversial and it was speculated that he had received preferential treatment due to his political connections - not only in terms of his parole but in his treatment at the public hospital, where 82 patients were on the waiting list for kidney dialysis in March.

He has not returned to the hospital for treatment since his discharge.

Mathebula said Selebi had been referred to Jakaranda Hospital, a private medical facility, at his request.