State capture: Police documents 'classified' to hide fraud, corruption

17 September 2019 - 14:51 By Amil Umraw
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Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, chair of the state capture inquiry.
Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, chair of the state capture inquiry.
Image: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Thulani Mbele

Seasoned Hawks investigator Col Kobus Roelofse told the state capture inquiry on Tuesday that police documentation was purposefully classified to hide fraud and corruption.

This, he said, hampered investigations into senior officers in the police's crime intelligence division.

Roelofse's testimony is expected to implicate more than 50 people and covers alleged illegal activities in the police's top brass. His evidence is so sensitive that names of certain individuals were redacted and replaced with numbers to protect their identities.

Before he started his testimony, Roelofse said that while preparing for his appearance before the commission, he received information "which I consider as trying to inhibit me from testifying".

His testimony focuses mostly on the looting of the police's secret service account which holds money used to pay informants, operate safe houses, purchase assets and cover the bills for covert operations.

"Documents are classified to hide the identity of agents as well as informants, not to divulge the physical addresses of safe houses and business premises… It is used as an excuse not to continue with the various investigations or to hamper these investigations," he said.

"As part of my investigations, it became evident that the classification of documents was used precisely to cover up fraud and corruption... and protect individuals in such incidences.

"I think many of the classified documents were incorrectly classified where the information contained inside did not warrant the type of classification."

His testimony is continuing.


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