Mdluli suspension unconfirmed

Suspended crime inteligence boss Richard Mdluli. Photo: Steve Lawrence

Suspended crime inteligence boss Richard Mdluli. Photo: Steve Lawrence

Published May 17, 2012

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Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa's office could not confirm a report on Thursday that former crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Richard Mdluli had been given a notice of suspension.

“I am not aware that such a notice was issued,” spokesman Zweli Mnisi said.

“This story is a bit dicey, and is really bad journalism. More research needed to be done, and it needed to say who issued the notice.”

The KwaZulu-Natal newspaper, the Daily News, reported on Thursday that Mdluli and head of covert support Major-General Solly Lazarus both received a notice of intention to suspend on Wednesday.

The two reportedly have until May 25 to argue why they should not be suspended.

According to Lazarus’s notice, his suspension was being contemplated amid allegations of him mismanaging state finances.

Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley said on Thursday that Colonel Kobus Roelofse's claim that Sunday Times journalists were paid by Crime Intelligence to write articles was false.

The articles were mentioned in an SA Police Service report by Roelofse and named Hawks investigators as the instigators of renditioning.

The names mentioned in the articles were those of the Hawks investigators looking into allegations of murder, fraud and nepotism by individuals in Crime Intelligence, especially Mdluli.

Roelofse said in his report that a witness stated that Lazarus “wanted to use sources within the media” to write stories to take the focus off them.

Roelofse's report was made public on Tuesday when it was lodged in the High Court in Johannesburg with other papers by non-profit organisation Freedom Under Law (FUL).

FUL applied for an urgent interdict on Tuesday preventing Mdluli from serving in the police.

It also applied for an interdict against Police Minister Mthethwa, to prevent him from moving Mdluli to a new position before a review of his reinstatement.

Mthethwa announced on May 9 that Mdluli would be shifted from his position to another division in the police.

Last year, Mdluli faced fraud and corruption charges relating to the alleged misuse of a crime intelligence fund, the purchase of luxury vehicles and the hiring of family members. He also faced a murder charge following the murder of a former lover's boyfriend, Oupa Ramogibe.

Both sets of charges were withdrawn and Mdluli was reinstated as head of crime intelligence. The murder investigation became an inquest. - Sapa

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