Mdluli link to Zuma revealed

Mdluli professed his innocence in the matters of fraud, murder and the slush fund he allegedly dipped into for personal benefit in the Sunday Times, but the SA Policing Union remains unimpressed with his protestations, calling in a Sunday Tribune report for a judicial commission of inquiry into the state of affairs in the police. At the same time the Mail & Guardian says the Hawks have uncovered a concealed police bank account through which 'vast sums' of money have allegedly been illegally siphoned. The existence of the account emerged from the Hawks' investigation into fraud claims against Mdluli, who, according to a report in The Sunday Independent even has Ministers running scared.

The City Press article appears to give the lie to Mdluli's claim he has no connection with Zuma. It says a month before the fraud and corruption charges against him were dropped, he told Zuma he would 'assist the President to succeed next year' if he were reinstated in his job. The report says the apparent pledge is made in what it describes as a strangely-phrased letter Mdluli sent to Zuma in November. City Press says it has a copy of the letter, which was also sent to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and acting police chief Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. In it Mdluli says there is a conspiracy against him driven by senior police officers who want him out of the job. 'It is alleged (by the conspirators)' that I support the Minister of Police and the President of the country. In the event that I come back to work, I will assist the President to succeed next year,' Mdluli wrote. City Press says it specifically asked Mdluli to explain whether he offered to assist Zuma in his campaign to be re-elected as ANC leader in December in the letter. Mdluli, through spokesperson Brigadier Lindela Mashigo, chose not to respond .

The City Press report makes other revelations. It says suspended senior prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach told the NPA two weeks ago that new evidence had been uncovered that implicates Mdluli and others in 'extremely serious' crimes. In her memorandum to the NPA, Breytenbach says the decision to withdraw charges against Mdluli had the practical effect to 'smother' serious other allegations of the abuse of state funds. She also claims the police front company allegedly used by Mdluli and others to plunder a crime intelligence 'slush fund' is the same company used by the apartheid security branch to buy explosives that were used against anti-apartheid activists. Full City Press report

Why is Mdluli not being treated in the same way as other police officers accused of corruption? That, says another City Press report, is the central question Breytenbach and her colleague Jan Ferreira have asked in a hard-hitting memorandum. The paper says it has seen the document that was handed to Advocate Nomgcobo Jiba two weeks ago. In the memorandum, Breytenbach and Ferreira suggest that Mdluli is being treated differently because of who he knows. 'The impression has now unfortunately been created, whether correctly or incorrectly, that Mdluli (and Colonel Heine Barnard, Mdluli's co-accused) are being treated differently and preferentially because of who they are (and who they know).' Full City Press report

Concerned Cabinet Ministers want the matter to be discussed and resolved at the highest level - the Cabinet security cluster, says a report in The Sunday Independent. Several Ministers reportedly told the paper they had informally expressed their displeasure at how Mdluli and his factional fights with his colleagues are destabilising the police service. One Minister, who could not be quoted because she cannot discuss 'internal matters publicly', said some of her colleagues had told her that they feared speaking openly on their phones. 'Mdluli comes to mind when we want to discuss private thoughts (and ideas) with (fellow Cabinet) members or any other person. We are supposed to be in charge of the country, but we live in fear of this (Mdluli) guy,' she said. Full report in The Sunday Independent

The bank account uncovered by the Hawks is separate from the police secret service account, the subject of earlier allegations involving Mdluli, according to a Mail & Guardian report. It notes the latest discovery comes after previous fraud and murder charges were dropped against Mdluli by the NPA. The M&G says it has established that the Hawks continued to investigate the high-ranking policeman without his knowledge, on the basis that when there is alleged criminality, the unit has a constitutional obligation to investigate. Two high-ranking sources familiar with the investigation confirmed the discovery of the concealed police bank account, which was allegedly a 'private-use slush fund'. The M&G says it understands that in one instance, commission received on police vehicles purchased for more than R40m was placed in this concealed account and kept secret. It says the investigation into the account is apparently at an early stage. Full Mail & Guardian Online report

Mthethwa has dismissed allegations of cover-ups during the Mdluli investigation, says a Mail & Guardian Online report. 'Allegations and insinuations of cover-ups are unfounded and ought to be dismissed out of hand,' he said. The Inspector-General of Intelligence, Faith Radebe, had the legal mandate of oversight with regard to the financial management of crime intelligence and was looking into the allegations that there was abuse of the intelligence secret fund and concerns relating to interceptions. She can also examine other matters that arise. 'Those who claim to have such information should therefore place it before the competent authorities,' a statement from Mthethwa's spokesperson said. 'There are clear policies and programmes governing the role of the Minister so that there is no blurring of the reporting lines between the Minister and the management of the SAPS. The Minister is committed to adhering to these rules and practices and will therefore not address such matters through the media.' Full Mail & Guardian Online report

Denying he is close to Zuma in a Sunday Times interview, Mdluli says the hullabaloo over his reinstatement is all down to the press. He reportedly said: 'There is no cloud over my head. There is a media campaign and propaganda. All this is noise, which I don't have time for. I just want to do my job and make sure the people of SA are safe.' Asked if Zuma was behind a plot to ensure he kept his job as crime intelligence boss because Zuma wanted him as a political ally in charge of police spooks to help secure a second term, he reportedly replied: 'No. There is no such thing. I am a policeman, serving the government of the day. If another government comes tomorrow, I will be loyal to that government. I am not close to Jacob Zuma or any other politician or political faction.' He admitted to having several family members in crime intelligence: 'I didn't make them join. There are family members - like any other police officer,' he said. 'There's nothing wrong with that because I was never involved in their employment process. Some were appointed in 2003 or 2004 - years before I became divisional commissioner.' He also denied the looting of a slush fund and his alleged link to the murder of his girlfriend's husband, and described the fraud case against him as 'fabricated'. Full interview in the Sunday Times Mdluli's career (Sunday Times backgrounder)

In an evasive Q&A interview for the Sunday Times' So Many Questions feature, the Police Minister claims to have clean hands on the Mdluli matter. He said: 'Investigations are continuing. When he was suspended, I didn't have to do anything. When he was reinstated, I didn't have to do anything. Because there are structures responsible for such things, and I respect those structures.' He added: 'I was not involved in the decision to charge him in the first place. I was not involved in the decision to take him through the criminal justice system. So there was no way I was going to be involved in the decision to reinstate him.' Full interview in the Sunday Times

The rejection of a DA attempt to have the matter discussed in Parliament has drawn an angry response from the party. Business Day notes the chair of Parliament's Police Committee, Sindi Chikunga, said her committee could not probe the fraud and corruption charges levelled at Mdluli because 'it is not a court of law'. DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said 'the DA will continue to pursue its request for subjecting the on-going saga regarding Crime Intelligence head Richard Mdluli to proper parliamentary scrutiny. The necessity of such hearings is compounded by revelations of a second secret service slush fund and a reported 'pledge' by Mdluli to assist President Jacob Zuma and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa. The DA does not accept the police portfolio committee chairperson Sindy Chikunga's unilateral rejection of our request for a special parliamentary hearing as reported in the media.' Full Business Day report