The Acting Provincial Commissioner, Major General Thembisile Patekile has appreciated the sterling work of the Anti-Corruption Unit and cautioned all those found to have been involved in corrupt activities to refrain from their action or face the strong arm of the law.
General Patekile’s warning follows after the Provincial Anti-Corruption unit in concert with Crime Intelligence and the Task Team conducted an operation on Monday 11 January 2021, which led to the subsequent arrest of a 50-year-old suspect believed to be a Senior Public Prosecutor in East London.
According to the information, the Anti-Corruption Unit identified a threat after receiving reports of continuous and numerous missing court dockets in the East London Magistrate Courts in 2016. The investigations started, some of which included two cases of drunken driving in one of which the victim was asked to pay a sum of R20.000 in exchange for the destruction of the court docket. Consequently, the said case went missing. However, the police were able to reconstruct the docket and were ready to bring it before court.
It is alleged that the suspect again started persuading his victim to pay more money and this time a sum of R5000, 00 so that the reconstructed court docket could be destroyed as well, in order to help him escape prosecution as the said docket would have been destroyed. This brought the amount pocketed from the victim to R25, 000-00 in total.
After a long process of investigation which started in 2019 by the Anti-Corruption Unit, during which the suspect was evading arrest by the police, an intensive search was conducted and eventually he was found in the Amalinda Forest Two Houses and arrested with the assistance of Crime Intelligence and the Task Team after a warrant of arrest was issued.
“Reports of civil servants being involved in corrupt activities are disturbing. These are the people who are expected to uphold the law and protect the image and resources of the government by ensuring that justice is served and service delivery is not compromised. It is therefore disappointing to learn that it is those who are assigned with such authority and trust who prey on the innocent and unsuspecting members of the communities. The law must take its course. Said Major General Patekile
The suspect will be charged for Corruption and Defeating the course of justice and is expected to appear in the East London Magistrate Court on 14 January 2021 on the stated charges.
