Johannesburg - The case against forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan took an unexpected turn in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Monday when he was charged along with two prominent persons.
The previous chief executive of SA Airways, Monwabisi Kalawe, and the chief operating officer of the Mogale City council, Abednego Mbulawa, were charged with extortion, intimidation, fraud, forgery and uttering.
O’Sullivan was appearing for contravention of the Citizenship Act, which he was arrested for a month ago while boarding a plane for London with two of his children.
Last week, his legal team brought an application to have his stringent bail conditions preventing him from leaving the country relaxed.
On Monday, Gauteng Hawks boss Major-General Prince Mokotedi was expected to take the stand, where O’Sullivan’s advocate Barry Roux was planning to question him on why they had arrested and allegedly tortured O’Sullivan.
The forensic investigator had laid a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) claiming his rights were violated during his arrest.
He said in the complaint that he was arrested in an attempt to intimidate him or cause him to refrain from reporting corruption within the police, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and state-owned entities.
He is the first person in the country to be charged for the immigration offence.
But Mokotedi, who was at court, did not take the stand as O’Sullivan’s legal team dropped the bail application. The Star understands this was part of a deal done with the Hawks in order for them not to rearrest O’Sullivan on the new charges.
NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku confirmed the charges and said O’Sullivan, Kalawe and Mbulawa were released on a warning.
The charges against the three come more than a year after a criminal complaint was opened by SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeni with the Hawks after fake papers emerged allegedly showing Myeni was hiding ill-gotten funds in overseas bank accounts.
O’Sullivan had sent an email to the police and journalists calling for an investigation into Myeni. Attached to the email, which was also sent to suspended police commissioner General Riah Phiyega, was a fake Interpol report that suggested Myeni had offshore accounts in France and Austria containing more than R250 million from alleged kickbacks in SAA tenders.
He also sent the email to Myeni, asking her to resign by sunset.
O’Sullivan explained in the Ipid complaint that he was in Geneva, Switzerland, when he received the email from Kalawe purporting to implicate Myeni in an Interpol investigation.
He sent the emails to Myeni and journalists. A journalist replied with colour copies of the same documents and he sent those to the police, calling for an investigation.
“On face value the documents looked genuine,” O’Sullivan said.
He then tried to verify the documents and said that within half an hour he realised they were fake, and emailed the same police officers, asking them not to act on his earlier email.
Myeni apparently rejected O’Sullivan’s subsequent apology and offer of financial compensation.
O’Sullivan then opened a case at Bramley police station, alleging that the person who created the documents was Mbulawa.
Kalawe, who accused Myeni of corruption, has reportedly claimed that he passed the documents on to O’Sullivan for him to authenticate.
O’Sullivan had also opened a separate case against Myeni and the entire SAA board, alleging reckless conduct and corruption.
Media reports at the time claimed that Kalawe had deposited R150 000 into an account in Mbulawa’s name, claiming the money was to cover his costs in getting the documents from his contacts in France. Mbulawa denied the allegations.
Police last year raided the offices of all three men, seizing electronic equipment, which had to be returned after O’Sullivan won a high court application asking that they be given back to him.
The Star also understands that the Hawks plan to charge O’Sullivan in the next few days with espionage, but there are no details about what this charge may be related to.
Mfaku said details of the docket would be disclosed to the accused, and the case would return to court on June 7.
The Star