Ex-SAA boss held in O’Sullivan case twist

Angelique Serrao

JOHANNESBURG: The case against forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan took an unexpected turn in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The previous chief executive of SAA, Monwabisi Kalawe, and the chief operating officer of the Mogale City council, Abednego Mbulawa, were charged for extortion, intimidation, fraud, forgery and uttering.

O’Sullivan was appearing for contravention of the Citizenship Act, which he was arrested for a month ago while boarding a plane for London with two of his children.

Last week, his legal team brought an application to have his stringent bail conditions, preventing him from leaving the country, relaxed.

Yesterday, Gauteng Hawks boss Major-General Prince Mokotedi was expected to take the stand, with O’Sullivan’s advocate, Barry Roux, planning to question him on why they had arrested and allegedly tortured O’Sullivan.

The forensic investigator had laid a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) earlier in the week claiming his rights were violated during his arrest. He said in the complaint he was arrested in an attempt to intimidate him or cause him to refrain from reporting corruption within the police, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and state-owned entities.

He is the first person in the country to be charged for the immigration offence.

But Mokotedi, who was at court, did not take the stand as O’Sullivan’s legal team dropped the bail application.

The Star understands this was part of a deal done with the Hawks in order for them not to rearrest O’Sullivan on the new charges.

NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku confirmed the charges and said O’Sullivan, Kalawe and Mbulawa were released on a warning.

The charges against the three come more than a year after a criminal complaint was opened by SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni with the Hawks, after fake papers emerged allegedly showing Myeni was hiding ill-gotten funds in overseas bank accounts.

O’Sullivan had sent an e-mail to the police and journalists calling for an investigation into Myeni. Attached to the e-mail, which was also sent to national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega, was a fake Interpol report that suggested Myeni had offshore accounts in France and Austria containing more than R250 million from alleged kickbacks in SAA tenders.

He also sent the e-mail to Myeni asking her to resign by sunset. O’Sullivan explained in the Ipid complaint that he was in Geneva, Switzerland, when he received the e-mail from Kalawe purporting to implicate Myeni in an Interpol investigation.

He sent the e-mails to Myeni and journalists. A journalist replied with colour copies of the same documents and he sent those to the police, calling for an investigation.

“On face value the documents looked genuine,” O’Sullivan said.

He then tried to verify the documents and said that within half an hour he realised they were fake and e-mailed the same police, asking them not to act on his earlier e-mail.

Myeni apparently rejected O’Sullivan’s subsequent apology and offer of financial compensation.

O’Sullivan then opened a case at the Bramley police station, alleging that the person who created the documents was Mbulawa.

Kalawe, who accused Myeni of corruption, has reportedly claimed that he passed the documents onto O’Sullivan for him to authenticate.

O’Sullivan had also opened a separate case against Myeni and the whole board of SAA, alleging reckless conduct and corruption.

Media reports at the time claimed that Kalawe deposited R150 000 into an account in Mbulawa’s name, claiming the money was to cover his costs in obtaining the documents from his contacts in France.

Mbulawa, however, denied the allegations.

The Star also understands the Hawks’ plan to charge O’Sullivan in the next few days with espionage, but there are no details about what this charge may be related to.

Mfaku said the details of the docket would be disclosed to the accused and the case would return to court on June 7.