Umhlanga business tycoon Sbu Mpisane claims he has been threatened by the Hawks to either help them “nail” his close friend, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele, or “sink” with him if he fails to co-operate.
The allegations are made in an affidavit signed by Mpisane that was leaked to the Daily News.
In a separate case, Mpisane’s wife, Shauwn, faces fraud charges involving the tax affairs of her company, Zikhulise Cleaning and Transport. She is currently on bail.
In the affidavit, Sbu Mpisane claims he and his wife were asked to meet two members of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, better known as the Hawks, last Saturday.
Mpisane says that the two men threatened him with trumped up charges of “being in possession of stolen property” if he failed to turn on Cele.
“The Hawks member… accused me of being in possession of a full SAPS uniform and of having an appointment letter from the office of General Cele to supply bulletproof vests to the SAPS,” reads the affidavit.
“He said that he did not want to charge me as he wanted to explore a more reasonable approach. I strongly denied the allegations he was making against me, to which he responded by saying that Cele is in ‘hot water’ and that he was under strict instructions to investigate procurement corruption in the SAPS involving Cele.
“He further offered me an option of being a Section 204 witness against General Cele.
Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act allows for a witness to be granted full indemnity on a charge if he testifies for the state.
“After being advised by both my attorneys, who were present, that I was not going to co-operate with him, he said he would go to Point Road police station and register a case against me for possession of SAPS stolen property and obtain a search and seizure warrant if I did not want to co-operate.”
In a twist, the affidavit then alleges that the Hawks officer later apologised to Mpisane.
“He openly stated that he was retracting his words against me, saying that he actually acknowledges that the procedure he followed was irregular. On asking him why he chose to lie about me, he nonchalantly stated that that was how he was trained in the SAPS,” Mpisane says in the affidavit. He then calls on the SAPS to investigate the conduct of the two Hawks.
Approached for comment, Mpisane said he was unable to provide more information because the matter had been handed over for further investigation. He directed queries to his legal spokesman, Vusi Ndlovu.
“Yes, the affidavit exists and we have handed a copy over to the offices of national police commissioner General Bheki Cele, the Hawks and national Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to investigate,” Ndlovu said.
“My client feels compromised, and as his wife’s matter involving Sars and the raid by the Hawks is already in court, he does not wish to comment any further at this stage. Suffice to say that he would like to see justice served in a court of law rather than through malicious attempts at the abuse of power outside the courtroom.”
The Hawks officer, a captain, refused to confirm or deny his meeting with the Mpisanes last week, and referred the Daily News to national police spokesman, Vish Naidoo, who also serves as a spokesman for the Hawks.
Asked about the affidavit, Naidoo checked with his investigating officers and said that they “were not prepared to provide a blow-by-blow account of their investigations”.
The Mpisane affidavit comes in the wake of a recent raid on the couple’s La Lucia home by members of the Hawks in which computers and other IT consumables were taken as part of a Sars investigation into allegations of tax evasion.
Sbu Mpisane later fought back, calling the raid “an abuse of power” and accusing the Hawks of treating them like criminals.
The case against his wife is expected to be heard in the Durban Magistrate’s Court later this month. - Daily News