Details have emerged of how former Gauteng police commissioner Deliwe de Lange and three other senior officers allegedly conspired to defraud the SAPS in a R84million tender scandal.
According to highly placed sources close to the investigation, who asked not to be named, the brazen tender cover-up was so elaborate that valid documents replaced fraudulent ones two years after the bid had closed.
These allegations will form part of the State's case against De Lange, her co-accused as well as the service provider, who, it is alleged, provided a fraudulent tax clearance certificate during the bidding process to install, among other things, blue lights, sirens and radio equipment in Gauteng police vehicles.
Major-General Nombhuruza Napo, who is Gauteng's current deputy police commissioner; Lieutenant-General Ramahlapi Mokwena, the national divisional commissioner for supply chain management; and Brigadier James Ramanjalum, head of procurement at the SAPS, are the other top officers who have been arrested with De Lange.
They all appeared in the Joburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court yesterday.
All the accused vehemently denied the allegations and indicated that they would plead not guilty.
Investigators have said that more officers could be added to the accused list.
Vimpie Manthata, whose company Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement “fraudulently” won the lucrative tender, received the contract in 2016.
All five accused are facing four charges of corruption, fraud, forgery and uttering.
However, one source said that Manthata, who allegedly provided a fake tax certificate between January and April 2016, sneaked in valid documentation earlier this year.
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