Former police detective, Thabo Ezekiel Maputla (53) was on 1 February 2023 found guilty of corruption by the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Maputla will be sentenced on 7 February 2023.
On 25 August 2014, Maputla who was a detective Warrant Officer at SAPS Westenburg contacted four suspects in a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm that he was investigating.
When the suspects arrived at Westenburg police station, Maputla told them they were under arrest, but they can pay R500-00 each for bail.
The suspects paid a total of R2000-00 to Maputla while they were still kept in the police holding cells.
On the very same day, Maputla booked out one of the suspects for ‘investigation’ and they went to his house where he demanded a further R2500-00 for bail from his wife.
The money was paid to Maputla and they went back to the police station. When they arrived at the police station, Maputla released all the four suspects and issued them with bail receipts of R500-00 each.
The matter was reported to the police and Maputla was arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation members after conducting a thorough investigation.
Maputla is currently serving a jail term on another unrelated corruption case.
