OMPHITLHETSE MOOKI
SUSPENDED police commissioner Bheki Cele yesterday admitted to a public inquiry, being held in Pretoria, that the man whose two buildings were central to the controversial R1.6 billion police lease deals was using inside information.
However,
having admitted last week that the procurement process for buildings earmarked to house police headquarters in Pretoria and Durban had been compromised, Cele yesterday failed to explain how both buildings could be owned by the same person – businessman Roux Shabangu.
While he continued to distance himself from Shabangu, Cele admitted that the manner in which the procurement processes were carried out indicated that Shabangu might have had inside information.
Judge Jake Moloi, chairman of the board of inquiry appointed by President Jacob Zuma, pressed Cele: “What is rather nagging to me is that it would appear that Shabangu used to know about the needs of accommodating police even before the lease assessments were done. Somebody must have been informing Shabangu that police needed accommodation?”
“Yes, I would agree with you,” Cele said. “But this… might have come from two sources… the police or Public Works.” He said the latter would have known when leases were expiring. But Judge Moloi pointed out that the lease for Wachthuis – a building housing police headquarters in Pretoria – had been extended weeks before Cele took over.
The only thing Cele would admit to was that, as the person in charge of the police, he was accountable for all decisions and processes undertaken within the SAPS.
This contradicted his earlier admissions that he had overlooked some issues and signed off on documents even if he mistrusted those who had brought the documents to him.
Later yesterday, SAPS chief financial officer Lieutenant-General Stephan Schutte told the inquiry that documents relating to the lease deals were brought to him when Cele had already approved funding for procurement. Schutte had signed them.
The board was expected to continue today.