Former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane and his co-accused, Godfrey Mahwayi, Indanathan Kistiah, Maanda Obert Nemutanzhela, Avendra Naidoo, Brainwave Projects 1323CC (as represented by accused two) and Agnes Makhele were on Wednesday released on bail of R5,000, R10,000, R50,000, and three of the accused were released on R20,000 bail each.
The accused appeared at the Pretoria specialised commercial court facing charges of fraud, corruption, theft and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), pertaining to two police tenders issued in 2016, worth more than a total R54m. The tenders were awarded to Brainwave Projects, trading as I-View Integrated Systems, who has also been indicted.
According to the investigating directorate, on December 21 2016, the SAPS crime intelligence division embarked on an “emergency procurement of software tools or systems”.
“It was intended to collect and monitor information from social media platforms on the instigators of the university students’ #FeesMustFall protests. Open sources reveal that the #FeesMustFall protests started in October 2015. By December 2016 it was far-fetched to claim a response to the protests as an ‘emergency’,” said investigating directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka.
She said they purported to buy the RIPJAR software from a company that is not involved in software engineering but was a security alarms and surveillance cameras company.
“The owners of the so-called competing companies were friends and were involved in cover quoting. The cover quote was supplied to Inbanathan Kistiah by the former husband of the sole director of a company called Perfect Source, which was a human resource recruitment company. The other software procured was a mobile communication encryption platform named Daedalus,” she said.
The directorate said the purpose of Daedalus was to encrypt voice calls made by SAPS management when Phahlane was under investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
He was being investigated for the “blue lights” police tender and other irregular procurement during his tenure. Daedalus made it impossible for investigators to get call records from cellphone providers.
Seboka said the SAPS invited three potential suppliers, but one of the suppliers stated that its “quotation” was fraudulent in that the company didn’t submit one.
Two proposals for procurement of software tools were received on December 21 2016.
One proposal was for obtaining the RIPJAR software. Two written price quotations were submitted for RIPJAR. One was from I-View and the other was from Perfect-Source (HR company and not an engineering company). The owner of this company was the ex-wife of Avendra Naidoo. However, Perfect-Source was being deregistered. Through investigations it is revealed that Naidoo submitted the quote and not his wife. It is further alleged R33m was paid to I-View and R21m paid for Daedalus within a short space of time.
Daedalus was procured for the sole purpose of encrypting calls and wiping out cellular records and messages. It is further alleged that deviation from normal procurement processes for the contracts (signed and processed on the same day) and payment was made on December 22, one day after approval.
Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan said Phahlane and the whole top management of the police during his time were “a bunch of criminals”.
“So we had a criminal justice system being run by criminals. We started opening cases as far back as 2012 that never saw the light of day, so by 2016, we started opening more cases and the first case I opened against Phahlane was on the February 22 2016.
O’Sullivan said more arrests are still to come.
“I will be back again and again. If he thinks this is the last time he is arrested, he is mistaken. Other cases are coming and we are pushing all of those cases and I am pleased to say that the investigative directorate is staffed by good competent people and this is another sign of that,” he said.
Investigating Directorate (ID) boss Adv Andrea Johnson said the arrest of the high-ranking police officials endorses the ID’s commitment to dealing with corruption and state capture.
“It is also dealing with the lack of accountability, which to date has undermined the legitimacy of the law, and shows that the wheels of justice are turning and impunity is no longer a given. On the contrary, the rule of law is the most important protection of the weak against the whims of the powerful and it is what stands between us and tyranny,” said Johnson.
The matter has been postponed to December 7 2022.
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