Captain 'KGB' bail application postponed again

The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Tuesday postponed the bail application of crime intelligence operative Captain Morris “KGB” Tshabalala due to court constraints.

The matter was postponed last week for his lawyers to submit supplementary affidavits responding to explosive documents filed by Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) investigators when they were opposing bail.

But Magistrate Nicca Setshogoe had to postpone the matter yet again to next Thursday as the court had other cases to hear.

Tshabalala‚ who evaded justice for years while working as a crime intelligence operative in Erasmuskloof in Tshwane‚ was arrested last Tuesday for allegedly stealing R563‚000 from the SAPS secret slush fund meant for operational purposes.

The officer‚ who is said to enjoy the protection of police top brass and senior politicians‚ is facing two charges of theft‚ two of fraud and one of corruption for allegedly using fraudulent invoices to claim money to install blinds in safe houses in two plush Pretoria suburbs‚ Waterkloof Heights and Brooklyn.

For 15 years‚ while serving as a crime intelligence operative‚ Tshabalala was on the run from a 10-year sentence for armed robbery committed in Mamelodi in 1994.

He was convicted for the crime in 1996 but he appealed the conviction and sentence and then failed to hand himself over to prison authorities when his appeal was dismissed.

The police officer is on parole after being released in 2015 from the Groenpunt maximum security prison‚ where he was serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery.