Cape Town – The Kimberley Serious Corruption Investigation arrested a Hawks captain, a police sergeant and an informer for alleged fraud and corruption on Thursday.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Tebogo Thebe said the 41-year-old captain was arrested while on duty in Upington, and later arrested a 42-year-old police sergeant who is stationed at Kuruman police station.
“It is alleged that during the year 2021 the captain submitted and recommended an informer’s reward claim of R100 000.
"The police’s claim committee approved a payment of R80 000 to the benefit of the said police informer.
"It is further alleged that the accused failed to hand the full amount of R80 000 to the informer but rather paid the informer an amount of R5000 and paid another R5000 to a police sergeant who is stationed at Kuruman police station and kept the rest of the money amounting to R70 000 for himself.“
Thebe said the 42-year-old police sergeant was an accomplice and had been charged alongside the main accused.
“A probe by the Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation Team revealed that the informer’s reward claim was fraudulent.
“The so-called ‘informer’, a 37-year-old accused, allegedly recruited by the sergeant, was also charged for defeating the ends of justice connected to the main charge,” the statement said.
The trio appeared in the Kuruman Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, on charges of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
Meanwhile, the Northern Cape's provincial head of the Hawks, Major-General Steve Mabuela, welcomed the arrest of a captain attached to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Serious Organised Crime Unit based in Kathu.
IOL