Parow cops plead not guilty to corruption

File picture

File picture

Published Dec 1, 2015

Share

Cape Town – Ten police officials based at the Parow police station in Cape Town’s northern suburbs, pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption when they appeared in the Bellville Regional Court on Tuesday.

Seven of them also face one fraud charge each, to which they also pleaded not guilty.

Their trial should have started on Monday but rolled over to Tuesday.

On Tuesday, it transpired that five interpreters were required for the accused but that only some were available. All five interpreters would be available on Wednesday, senior State advocate Thersia du Toit-Smit told the court.

However, so as not to waste time, she and the defence team agreed to at least put the charges to the 10 men, so that they could plead to them.

The men appeared before magistrate Njengele Tshiki, who recorded their pleas of not guilty and warned them to appear again on Wednesday.

Before the court were Percy Claassen, 46, who pleaded not guilty to four counts of corruption and one of fraud, Randall Phillips, 28, who is charged with nine counts of corruption and one of fraud, Nicolaas Ryk, 38, who faces one count of corruption, Muneer Daniels, 29, facing three of corruption and one of fraud, and Alvico Carolissen, 28, who faces seven charges of corruption and one of fraud.

The other accused are Divan Webster, 30, who is charged with three counts of corruption, Dudley Abrahams, 37, who faces one charge of fraud and one of corruption, Casbeth Tsiri,30, who is charged with four counts of corruption and one of fraud, Thembalethu Masimela, 29, who faces four of corruption and one of fraud, and Samkelo Mnyanda, 27, who faces three counts of corruption.

The State alleges that on various occasions in the year 2013, they falsely informed victims that drugs had been found on their business premises, and demanded the immediate payment of fines to avoid arrest.

African News Agency

* Use IOL’s Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.

Related Topics: