Raids mire ex-top cop in tenders fraud

Police anticorruption investigators have uncovered evidence in raids that will lead to a wider investigation of former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Johannes Phahlane, sources claim.

The raids on Tuesday by Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigators on homes, businesses and police storage facilities across Pretoria allegedly included recovering some R375-million worth of expired police security monitoring tags at a forensic storage facility in Silverton, among other items.

Phahlane, who is currently on suspension, was under investigation for allegedly having had a chemical supplier install an R80,000 sound system in his home and providing him with luxury vehicles for awarding it a police forensics tender.

An Ipid source said on Wednesday that, until recently, the probe had centred only on the kickbacks Phahlane allegedly received for the tender.

"What we uncovered in the raids now points to specially created false demands for forensic items which were not needed.

"Also, there were crime scene torches, used to uncover mopped up blood and semen, that were bought in Australia for R7,000 which were sold to police for R300,000 a torch.

"Distilled water, which can be bought for R20 a litre, was sold to police for R4,000 per 100ml."

He said information led investigators to the monitoring tags.

"The secreting away of these tags, in a building which was under construction, means that for years highly valuable assets, which should be monitored, have not been monitored. Who knows what has happened to these [assets]?''

The source said the tags, which are fitted with encoded microchips, were now useless as they had passed their lifespan.

"That's R375-million down the drain," he said.

Among the premises raided was Phahlane's sister's home, where Ipid seized a Ford Ranger bakkie that was allegedly bought for the family as part of the kickback.

Calls to Phahlane's cellphone went unanswered on Wednesday.

He is believed to be in Mozambique.

The raids follow a heated debate in parliament last week at a standing committee on public accounts meeting.

It was at this meeting that the State Information Technology Agency, the staff of which are also being investigated by Ipid, and the police were ordered to immediately can multimillion-rand forensic contracts with service provider Forensic Data Analysis.

The meeting, which was attended by Ipid and Forensic Data Analysis director Keith Keating, was held to look into the millions of rands that had been wasted on forensic supplies to the police.

Forensic Data Analysis had received nearly R1-billion in payments for the provision of forensic equipment to the SAPS since 2012.

Scopa head Themba Godi labelled the contracts corrupt.

Forensic Data Analysis is at the centre of Ipid's probe into Phahlane.

Attempts to reach Keating for comment failed.

National police spokesman Brigadier Vish Naidoo referred questions to Ipid yesterday.

Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini said they did not comment on ongoing investigations.

Police and Ipid's sources with knowledge of Tuesday's raids said what was uncovered in the raids was "explosive''.

"This points to an intricate web of deceit, lies, corruption and gross maladministration, which has potentially cost South Africans billions of rands.

"If what is uncovered is proved to be true it could have scuppered criminal investigations,'' said a police anti-corruption source.