Police boss lied to Parliament – McBride

The arrest of private forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan was an act of intimidation, an abuse of power and an attempt to scupper the Independent Police Investigative Directorate's (Ipid’s) corruption investigation of acting National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, who lied to Parliament. So says Ipid head Robert McBride in what a Business Day report describes as an explosive briefing in Parliament yesterday. McBride said the police watchdog had obtained unchallenged evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the acting Police Commissioner, including corruption and money laundering. He also accused Police Minister Nathi Nhleko of ‘doing favours’ for those who ‘do his bidding’. McBride, who was making his first appearance in Parliament following September’s Constitutional Court ruling that his suspension be declared invalid, said the recent arrests of private investigator Paul O’Sullivan and his assistant Sarah Jane Trent were intimidation tactics meant to obfuscate the corruption probe into Phahlane. McBride led an Ipid team that briefed members of the Police Committee on some of the high-profile cases the directorate is working on, including the investigation into the acting Police Commissioner. At the heart of the Ipid probe, notes Business Day, is Phahlane’s R8m home north of Pretoria. O’Sullivan was arrested on Monday on charges including impersonating an official from the directorate, intimidation and extortion. The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) ordered that the independent forensic investigator be released on Monday night. Trent, who was arrested on Friday and released on Sunday, was charged with impersonating an Ipid officer.