Alleged company hijacker makes bizarre claims against top cop

A Pakistani man who claims to be a crime intelligence operative has made serious allegations of corruption against the head of SAPS' organised crime unit Maj-Gen Shadrack Sibiya — but admits he has no first-hand knowledge of the claims he has made. 

Hafiz Saddiq, who lives in South Africa on an asylum permit, is under investigation by the organised crime unit for allegedly conspiring to murder a police officer and attempting to hijack a business by obtaining an interim court order using lawyers’ practice numbers without their knowledge. 

This month, Saddiq wrote a complaint to Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela claiming Sibiya had tried to extort money from him. 

“Gen Sibiya demanded R500,000 from me in April as protection money to protect me and my business and I refused to pay him any protection money and extortion money. Gen Sibiya is ... always asking money from us Pakistanis as protection money,” Saddiq wrote in his complaint.

“I have information and knowledge on Gen Sibiya from the Pakistani underworld that Gen Sibiya is providing protection to many Pakistanis and Indian gangsters and getting them released on warning and destroying their court cases in return for gratifications. We hereby request you to intervene in this matter,” he continued. 

However, when TimesLIVE called Saddiq and asked him where and how Sibiya had asked for the money, he admitted he had never personally dealt with or even spoken to the top cop but had instead been told by a Pakistani “mafia boss” in Meyerton that Sibiya wanted R500,000. 

“He [the mafia boss he did not name] showed me Sibiya’s phone number but he didn’t show me a message from Sibiya asking for R500,000. Me and Sibiya have never talked directly, and he has never asked me directly for any money. I was only told by that guy who knows him that he wants money,” said Saddiq.

Questioned further, Saddiq admitted the allegations in the letter were his “conclusions” from his conversation with the “mafia boss”.

He also claimed Sibiya had irregularly released from custody two suspects who had “robbed him”. But police have rubbished Saddiq's claims as false and an attempt to smear Sibiya’s name.

In March, the Sunday Times reported Saddiq was arrested following a six-month investigation after he obtained legitimate court orders to assume control of multimillion-rand businesses using falsified documents.

It is believed he was granted at least one interim order using lawyers’ practice numbers to launch urgent court applications, working with corrupt officials in the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) to access businesses' private details, and filing falsified sales and shareholder agreements.

Saddiq denied the allegations.

National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said Saddiq had a “tendency” to lay false claims, and that his claims of being a crime intelligence operative were false.

“Mr Hafiz's allegations are devoid of any truth and he has not placed any factual evidence to substantiate his claims and allegations,” she said.

“He has repeatedly claimed he is the most persecuted person in South Africa. He has also claimed to be an ambassador of the Pakistani community which is devoid of truth. There is no evidence to support that.

“The national office denies the allegation made by Hafiz as they are false.”

Mathe said the two people Saddiq claims Sibiya released irregularly from the Johannesburg Central police station were let go because prosecutors said there was no evidence against them.

“The complainant Hafiz mentions that Gen Sibiya released two suspects [in a case] where the manager, Nazeer Ahmed Rahmathullah, a former warrant officer, alleged there was a robbery at the business premises on March 3. On the said day that was actually a police operation to arrest Mr Hafiz on conspiracy to commit murder,” said Mathe.

“What is strange about this case where Rahmathullah alleges the armed robbery with a firearm occurred [is that it] was actually a police operation. The complainant did not mention this in his statement. Rahmathullah was not present when the tactical operation occurred, he arrived later after he was called to bring the keys.”

Mathe said Saddiq is out on R50,000 bail, which was granted by the Wynberg magistrate’s court last month after he was charged with conspiracy to murder a senior crime intelligence officer and a private investigator.

Saddiq is also under investigation for serious commercial crimes for submitting fraudulent documents to the high court using the court online system.

However, Saddiq has denied he supplied false documents, claiming he used the lawyer’s credentials with his consent.

Alex Mashishi, who is cited in the papers as Saddiq’s lawyer, previously told the Sunday Times the signature on the document was not his and that he has never done work for Saddiq.

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