Shock over McBride prosecutor’s charges

Suspended Ipid boss Robert McBride. File picture: Cara Viereckl

Suspended Ipid boss Robert McBride. File picture: Cara Viereckl

Published Jun 16, 2016

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Pretoria - The advocate prosecuting suspended Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) boss Robert McBride for fraud and defeating the ends of justice is alleged to be facing similar charges.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) advocate Sello Maema is allegedly facing charges of perjury and defeating the ends of justice which were filed at Silverton police station.

Speaking outside the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court following his appearance, McBride said he was concerned that Maema was allowed to prosecute his matter despite having similar charges levelled against him. “The decision to remove him lies squarely with the national director of public prosecutions. All I am saying is that based on the evidence that I have seen, it involves dishonesty and lack of integrity and that is of great concern to me,” he said.

“The oversight of the Hawks is to investigate crimes committed by the Hawks but that is not what has happened. Now because a few elements are not happy with the findings of our investigations, they have decided to investigate our investigations and that doesn’t make sense,” he said.

The suspended Ipid head said what was currently happening was an anomaly that would eventually create tension between law enforcement agencies. “What has effectively happened with this change is that Ipid has been turned into a toothless watchdog,” he said.

With regards to his court case McBride said they would be launching a formal application on his next appearance in court for the State to furnish his legal team with Section B and C of the docket which they were refusing to do. “What normally happens in court cases is that the prosecution has to disclose to the defence all the evidence available to them, and that includes Section B. And in some instances they can provide Section C as well. We see no need for them to withhold those sections from us,” said McBride.

The court heard that McBride had his passport returned and intended travelling to Swaziland for personal reasons. “Freedom to travel is a normal right and it's only in apartheid times when you were not allowed to travel so you just skipped the country. Yes, I can travel now, but I will not elaborate as it is my own private affair,” he said.

McBride said he was still 100% confident there was nothing to the case and that he and his two co-accused, Matthew Sesoko and Innocent Khuba, were being prosecuted for simply doing their jobs.

“There is nothing against us; they haven’t shown us one shred of evidence to the fact.”

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said such instances (of Maema allegedly facing criminal charges) should be brought to the attention of the presiding magistrate and the decision would be at his discretion how to proceed and that the NPA was not involved in such matters.

On the passport, he said an agreement was reached between McBride and the investigating officer.

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