KwaZulu-Natal police say they have uncovered the actions of an organised criminal syndicate including a police insider who erased criminal records to benefit controversial businessman Stuart Scharnick.
This resulted in Scharnick receiving a “slap on the wrist” for his serious crimes.
This after crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo told the Madlanga commission Scharnick was “a serial hijacker” and linked him to criminal syndicates.
Khumalo claimed a Toyota double-cab bakkie driven by suspended deputy police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya was registered in Scharnick’s name.
Khumalo told the commission Scharnick had “a criminal history with multiple convictions,” alleging that he had appeared in more than 30 criminal cases, including 18 convictions and several withdrawals or acquittals.
He claimed Scharnick was Sibiya’s “personal protector” who accompanied him to parliament during previous committee sittings.
In response, on Wednesday, under-fire Scharnick opened a case of fraud and defeating the ends of justice against Khumalo at the Pretoria central police station.
“We have to start with the lies that he put on record, that I was convicted of 18 hijackings. I have not been convicted of one hijacking in my life,” he claimed. “I have my records from the local criminal record centre and if Gen Khumalo had any intelligence, as the head of intelligence, he would have picked up the phone and phoned the centre.”
On Thursday acting deputy provincial commissioner for crime intelligence Maj-Gen Anthony Gopaul told media in Durban police had uncovered how an employee attached to the local criminal record centre had expunged some of Scharnick’s history.
He said this was done on January 16 just before 5pm.
“The back end of the systems has brought us the evidence to show us what took place at the front end of the system. He said the division would look at the transactions which benefited individuals,” said Gopaul.
He said while the employee will face the necessary disciplinary and legal action, it’s unclear whether the oversight on the part of the employee was intentional or if it was a misunderstanding.
“We are preparing two dossiers where we highlight some of our findings. I have hinted to you that in the docket we see very clear actors in an organised crime syndicate,” said Gopaul.
He said they would be referring the dossier to the National Prosecuting Authority to look at the justice process while another dossier would be handed to the judicial commission to ensure the magistrate was provided with all the relevant information when he accepted a plea from the accused.
According to Gopaul, inspections of the dockets revealed that 10 cases involved vehicle theft, while eight were carjackings.
“He talks about one count where he was sentenced to five years, suspended, which has since lapsed after paying a fine,” said Gopaul.
He questioned the decision to consolidate case dockets related to Sharnick, after Sharnick had received a suspended sentence for a crime committed in the province.
“What comes out is that the matter became a plea deal in which he received a slap on the wrist,” said Gopaul.
Gopaul said in addition to carjacking and vehicle theft, other cases linked to Scharnick include assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, pointing a firearm, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
“There were various cases which we reflected on but he prefers to talk about the one which was resolved. He went to the media and levelled allegations about the police,” said Gopaul.
He said they looked at 29 dockets - 10 of which were related to the theft of motor vehicles while eight of 29 cases were related to the carjacking.
“When you talk about carjacking you are talking about a violent crime with force,” he said.
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