Cape Town - Eight police officials based at the Khayelitsha police station, who allegedly submitted false claims for travelling expenses, made their first appearance in court on Monday.
They appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, and were warned to appear in court again on January 19 next year.
The charge sheet explains the procedures to be followed by police officials going on investigations that take them away from their home bases, to other provinces.
An official first has to obtain permission from the provincial commissioner to use an official vehicle to leave the Western Cape, and to claim expenses whilst on a trip.
On his return, he or she may claim expenses on a special claim form, but must attach receipts as proof of payment for accommodation, meals and so on.
Police officials are allowed a subsistence allowance of R335 a day, and an official who is not away for a full day has to divide the R335 by 24 hours and then multiply the amount per hour by the number of hours away from base.
An official gets an accommodation allowance of R103 per day and, similarly, the amount has to be divided by 24 hours, and multiplied by the number of hours away from home, if the official is not away for a full day.
For meals, an official may claim R48 for breakfast, but must leave home before 5am and return after 10am.
The amount for lunch is the same as for breakfast, but the claimant has to leave base before 11am and return after 3pm.
For dinner, he may claim R84, but has to depart before 5pm and return after 8pm.
The charge sheet only gives the surname and initials of each accused as follows: Rudolph B, Mosia JE, Khanyile JJ, Majola EM, Mchitithwa T, Smit A, Masiba NS, and Leibrandt A.
Mchithwa faces 16 counts of fraud, Masiba eight, Rudolph six, Khanyile, Majola and Smit 4 each and Mosia and Leibrandt two charges each.
At the request of the prosecutor, senior State advocate Thersia du Toit-Smit, the case was postponed to January 19.
African News Agency
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