Pretoria: Forty-two people are set to appear before the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 29 September 2020 to answer to charges related to tender irregularities in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Division of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
All accused face a range of charges including corruption, fraud, money laundering, theft and perjury.
Of the 42, 22 are current serving members of the South African Police Service, an additional six are either retired or are members that have resigned from the Service and the rest are service providers.
The 42nd person in this case handed himself on Monday morning (28 September 2020) at the Silverton Police Station. The Lieutenant Colonel attached to the Supply Chain Management (SCM) division in Silverton appeared before the Pretoria Magistrates Court this morning together with five others who were arrested on Friday, 25 September 2020.
All accused are each out on R5 000,00 bail.
The matter at hand dates back to 2018 when the National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Khehla Sitole established a team to look into allegations of tender irregularities in the awarding of the marking and de-marking of SAPS vehicles after complaints and allegations of corruption were brought to his attention.
The initial investigations pertaining to the marking and demarking of saps vehicles uncovered massive looting of state funds through procurement irregularities, cover quoting and fraudulent processing of contracts to unlawfully award the same supplier having numerous companies registered on the supplier database.
“This is a build-up case, South Africans should expect that more heads will roll in the next few days’’ said Investigating Directorate Head, Advocate Hermione Cronje.
The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Khehla Sitole has commended the relentless efforts of the Special National Anti-Corruption team in working towards uprooting all forms of criminality within the ranks of the Service.
“We are pleased in the manner in which this case has reached an advanced stage. Over a two-year period, we are now standing at 42 arrests including our own members. We hope that this will serve as a deterrence to those who continue to collude in looting state coffers”, concluded General Khehla Sitole – National Commissioner of the SAPS.