Pretoria – A report by an independent forensic and auditing company, which finds the allegations of corruption within the Forensic Services Division of the SAPS are unfounded and unsubstantiated, has been made public.
The CPN Forensic and Accounting Services report on corruption allegations levelled against the unit by the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) in 2012, was released on Thursday by Acting Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane.
Among the allegations were that fraudulent statistics were presented to the police portfolio committee, there were procurement irregularities, irregular payments in human resources and irregular appointments and sexual relationships.
The allegations surfaced when Lieutenant General Phahlane was the Divisional Commissioner of Forensic Services.
The allegations were made by three whistleblowers, Lieutenant Colonel Ramolobe, Warrant Officer Malatjie and Warrant Officers Ramalepe, who were POPCRU members serving in the Forensic Services Division.
No evidence was found to support the allegations that fraudulent statistics on the backlog of cases were presented to the portfolio committee on police in April 2012.
The report found that a document submitted by POPCRU did not support the allegations that goods to the value of R30 million were paid for but not delivered by suppliers.
“The allegations could not be substantiated by the financial investigation, only that [at that stage] an amount of R29 738 115 was still owed to the supplier.”
The report further found that the allegations that Lieutenant General Phahlane had had a sexual relationship with two female brigadiers employed at FSL, and that they have children out of this relationship, were unsubstantiated.
All matters relating to Brigadier de Wit’s (Kleynhans) appointment were reviewed as recommended and it was confirmed that she was appointed as per the provisions of Regulation 45 of the SAPS Employment Regulations 2008 and there was no irregularity.
With regards to Brigadier Morapedi, the allegations were unfounded and the appointment was found not to be irregular, among others.
Lieutenant General Phahlane said many of the allegations were particularly aimed at him personally, as the Divisional Commissioner of Forensic Services.
“I am now releasing this report in my capacity as the Acting National Commissioner of the SAPS because year in and year out since then, the allegations resurface in the form of media enquiries, apparently originating from the same group of people.”
The allegations were originally contained in a letter dated 25 June 2012 which was sent to General Riah Phiyega, who was then the serving National Commissioner of the SAPS.
CPN was appointed by Phiyega on 23 March 2013, and the report was made available to the SAPS on 23 April 2014.
Explaining the reason behind the delayed release of the report to the public, Lieutenant General Phahlane said: “Only on 13 April 2015, did I meet with General Phiyega, who then advised me of the findings of the report. The findings and recommendations contained in the report were never made public by General Phiyega.”
He assured that his relationship with POPCRU was intact. “Our relationship was never depended on this allegations.” – SAnews.gov.za
