Johannesburg – Forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan on Thursday appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court to face various charges including fraud, extortion and impersonating an Ipid (Independent Police Investigative Directorate) officer, Gauteng police said.
Spokeswoman Brigadier Sally de Beer said O'Sullivan was granted a R10 000 bail with strict conditions. "The case was postponed for further investigation and O’Sullivan will appear in court again on 19 May 2017 with co-accused [O'Sallivan's assistant] Ms Sarah Jane Trent.
O’Sullivan is presently before the courts as the accused in four other cases," she said.
The bail conditions bar O'Sullivan from interfering with state witnesses and disclosing the names of witnesses to any third party. O'Sullivan is also not allowed to go to Sable Hills Waterfront Estate, Pretoria, where acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane's residence is located.
O'Sullivan's sympathisers believe that the police are trying to derail his investigation into Phahlane, against whom allegations of corruption have been levelled.
On Wednesday, IPID boss Robert McBride told Parliament's police portfolio committee that Phahlane lied when he told the same committee two weeks ago that IPID did not inform him about the investigation. He said Phahlane knew about the investigation as early as June last year.
The probe, in which O'Sullivan is a complainant, was in connection with Phahlane's multi-million rand home at the luxury estate.
O'Sullivan was arrested earlier this week, but was released hours later after the high court found that the arrest was in contravention of a court order agreed between the police and O'Sullivan, that he be notified two days before he could be arrested.
Trent was arrested on charges of impersonating an IPID officer on Sunday, and was released on R5 000 bail on the same night.