A Laingsburg police officer who spent the weekend behind bars is expected to appear in the Worcester Magistrate’s Court on corruption charges.
The sergeant, attached to the detective services, was arrested on Friday after an investigation found that he had allegedly solicited a bribe from a taxi driver in order for him not to be arrested on December 5 last year.
The officer had found that the driver’s vehicle details were circulated in a fraud case in Gauteng.
According to police spokesperson Wesley Twigg, the officer requested that the taxi driver pay him R2 500.
“This was after the vehicle he was driving was circulated in a fraud case in Midrand. He negotiated with the driver and R1 000 in cash was handed over to the sergeant. When they returned to the police station the driver and his passenger were released. The matter was reported to the anti-corruption unit and, following a thorough investigation, a well-prepared case was represented to the Director of Public Prosecution, who issued a warrant of arrest. The suspect is detained,” said Twigg.
Acting Western Cape provincial commissioner Preston Voskuil issued a stern warning against the solicitation of bribes and corruption by those in blue.
“Corruption between our ranks will not be tolerated as it undermines the rule of law and erodes the trust between the police service and the public,” he said.
The warning came a few days after Paarl police officers, 56-year-old Wilfred Martin and Shaun Falmer, 43, were convicted in the Cape Town Regional Court for fraud and defeating the ends of justice and corruption and contravention of the Customs Act.
The officers were arrested by the Hawks after an entrapment in December 2011 in which a Hawks officer pretended to be a foreign national whose unmarked vehicle broke down while transporting 12 boxes of illicit cigarettes.
Martin and Falmer allegedly arrested the undercover officer but only booked in three of the 12 boxes of illicit cigarettes at the police station as seized goods.
According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, the other boxes of cigarettes were only discovered to have been missing when the entrapment was exposed and the accused were arrested.
After more than nine years of legal battle, including a trial-within-a-trial, they were convicted last week.
The public can anonymously report any corrupt activities involving SAPS members to Jonathan Amon from the Anti-Corruption Unit at 082 301 9983 alternatively Crime Stop at 08600 10111.
Cape Times