Head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) Andrea Johnson has dismissed KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s claim that her colleague, senior investigator Brian Padayachee, is being used as a pawn by Idac to interfere in investigations.
In his testimony before parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system, Mkhwanazi mentioned Padayachee in relation to alleged misconduct at Idac. He said Padayachee was being moved between intelligence officials, magistrates and courts to facilitate negotiations.
“I would argue he is an enabler. He is a pawn in a game. He is the one who is being used,” Mkhwanazi said. “As it is, when you are in your house, you have a small dog that is sensitive to noise, who is going to bark, and then you have the real big dog that will tackle an enemy. So that is what Padayachee is.”
Johnson made her first appearance before the committee on Thursday. She defended Padayachee’s competency, saying he is good at what he does and is suitably qualified.
“I’m not sure what may have gone wrong, but when the allegations are made that Mkhwanazi couldn’t understand what Padayachee was doing at Idac ... I found him at Idac and he remains at Idac,” she said.
No-one would have been allowed to go to crime intelligence, engage any personnel or take any documents
— Andrea Johnson, Investigating Directorate Against Corruption head
“He did undergo a detective course. He has conducted several investigations during his time in the police. The assertion that he has no investigative experience and that no-one knows what he’s doing there is incorrect. He has the experience and qualifications and has been at Idac since 2021.”
Allegations that Padayachee may have access to crime intelligence documents are “incorrectly interpreted”, she said.
“That condition was dealt with — and mainly because we have witnesses at crime intelligence, those witnesses indicated they had been intimidated and victimised. The condition for them not to go to crime intelligence was to ensure the witnesses were not intimidated.
“Padayachee would not have been allowed to access any documents from crime intelligence. If, after that, one identified documents from crime intelligence that were required, we would have to follow the process we followed initially, which is to issue a section 28 subpoena to the national police commissioner.
“No-one would have been allowed to go to crime intelligence, engage any personnel or take any documents.”
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