By Michael Schmidt
More heads are expected to roll and more charges will be added to those of million-rand fraud, theft and corruption already pending in court against two former Scorpions bosses as the war between the agency and the police who made the arrests hotted up on Friday.
Prosecutor advocate Glynnis Breytenbach on Friday told Magistrate Desmond Nair, of the Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria where Malala Geophrey "Geoph" Ledwaba and Ayanda Dlodlo appeared, that more charges would be added to their draft charge sheets.
When asked on Friday whether other arrests would follow, national police spokesperson Dennis Adriao refused to comment but hinted that while "the investigations are on-going, the top brass is sweating".
The Scorpions and the police were even at war over whose work on the almost year-long investigation had led to the arrests of Ledwaba, the former investigating director of the Scorpions - the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) - and Dlodlo, a former special director in the DSO during Ledwaba's tenure.
Scorpions spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said on Friday that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), under which the DSO falls, had uncovered "wrongdoing" by Ledwaba and Dlodlo in 2004 and the DSO had brought the police Serious Economic Offences Unit into the investigation late last year.
But Adriao struck back, saying Nkosi's claims were "nonsense" and that the probe into Ledwaba and Dlodlo had been undertaken from the start by Serious Economic Offences.
According to the draft charge sheet, Ledwaba, 41, faces preliminary charges of having committed fraud 15 times between December 9, 2003 and January 25, 2005.
He allegedly removed a total of R529 455 out of the Scorpions's "confidential fund", out of which operations are run and informants paid.
Ledwaba also faces a preliminary charge of fraud in that while he was supposed to be working as the deputy head of the Scorpions, he was in fact moonlighting for the Gauteng department of safety and liaison, which paid him R496 127 for his services between December 2004 and February 2005.
That was the department which Dlodlo, 43, had headed before joining the Scorpions to head up their recruitment and logistics section.
Dlodlo faces two preliminary charges of theft in that she allegedly stole R80 700 from the Scorpions's confidential fund between November 2003 and March 2004, and one charge of fraud in that she allegedly altered a receipt of payment to an informant from R50 000 to R80 000.
Dlodlo and Ledwaba were not asked to plead. Ledwaba was granted bail of R100 000 and Dlodlo R50 000.
The matter was adjourned until November 30 for further investigation.