Opposition parties have criticised a decision to recommend former Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride as head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
The Democratic Alliance would "vehemently" oppose the appointment in Parliament, MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said on Tuesday. "IPID is responsible for investigating police officials in positions of authority and deals with sensitive information on a daily basis, thus the executive director must be a person free of scandal."
Lobby group AfriForum said Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa should resign for nominating McBride. "Minister Mthethwa, with this step, clearly indicated that the efficacy and integrity of the police is not a priority for him," said spokesperson Ian Cameron.
The Freedom Front Plus said the recommendation made a "farce and mockery" of Mthethwa's comments that he would eradicate corruption in the police. "IPID investigates corruption in the police and the head of this institution should not be a controversial person and should have an irreproachable character," spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said.
Christian Democratic Party leader Theunis Botha said the recommendation was "a serious challenge for being the sickest joke of the millennium".
"This makes a mockery of all the ANC promises that the policy of cadre deployment will be based on merit."
Shortlisted
Mthethwa said earlier that Cabinet decided at a meeting on Wednesday to recommend McBride as IPID executive director. "We believe Mr McBride's appointment as head of IPID will help this important institution to achieve [its] ... mandate," Mthethwa said.
He said McBride was the successful candidate following shortlisting, an interview process, and Cabinet's endorsement. "However, in line with the IPID Act, the appointment can only be finalised once Parliament has concurred."
Kohler Barnard said Mthethwa had requested that the portfolio committee on police consider McBride's nomination in a letter published in Parliament's announcements, tablings and committees on Tuesday morning. According to the IPID Act, the nomination must be considered within 30 parliamentary days.
She said the IPID should not be led by "such a controversial figure".
"The executive director must be suitably qualified for the position, not have previous convictions, and be a person of integrity."
Cameron said Mthethwa's decision had jeopardised the integrity of the police. "McBride had been previously arrested for arms smuggling, drunk driving and defeating the ends of justice. Now he must investigate and control corruption and malpractice in the police ...," he said.
Groenewald said Mthethwa was violating the public's trust with the recommendation. "McBride is extremely controversial and definitely not suitable for the position. The public should be able to trust the head of the IPID because a lot of complaints are against the [South African Police Service]."
Fired
Botha said Mthethwa should be fired. "Surely, no other minister is as determined to destroy his or her department," he said.
"If President [Jacob] Zuma does not now fire this bungling minister, the ANC should not be surprised when the world likens the Cabinet to a bunch of clowns."
McBride, who is a former MP and government official, won an appeal in March against a conviction of drunken driving and attempting to obstruct justice.
He was arrested in 2006 after crashing his official car on the R511 following a Christmas party. In September 2011, a Pretoria magistrate sentenced McBride to two years imprisonment for driving under the influence of alcohol and in effect three years' imprisonment for attempting to obstruct the course of justice.
In 1998, McBride was arrested in Mozambique on charges of gun-running. He spent seven months in a Maputo prison and was later cleared of all charges. He claimed he was investigating illegal gun-running with the National Intelligence Agency.
In 1999, McBride faced an assault charge after he, underworld boss Cyril Beeka, and another man visited an escort agency and allegedly assaulted an employee.
McBride was part of an Umkhonto we Sizwe group that bombed the Why Not Restaurant and Magoo's Bar in Durban on June 14 1986. Three people were killed and 69 were injured in the explosion. He was captured and convicted, and sentenced to death.
In 1992, he was released after his actions were classified as politically motivated. He was later granted amnesty at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. – Sapa
Source: Mail & Guardian
Showing posts with label Cyril Beeka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyril Beeka. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Thursday, November 29, 2012
SAPS Crime Intelligence: frozen in the political winter of Mangaung
The spy wars in the police’s embattled crime intelligence division are at the heart of a relentless struggle for control between political factions, each fighting to get its man into the much sought-after seat of spy master. Not unlike the Apartheid regime’s security branch, crime intelligence is a notoriously powerful instrument for government, as the eyes and ears on not only the criminal activities of mob bosses, but also the politicians and businessmen with whom they are connected. As this silent battle in the murky world of spies plays itself out in the final days on the road to Mangaung, combating crime has taken a back seat, writes DE WET POTGIETER.
The police’s crime intelligence division – in theory the backbone of crime prevention and the effective combating of crime in South Africa – appear to have become so politicised with factional in-fighting that this expert unit have suffered from paralysis since the struggle for the top post as spy master intensified last year.
“The spy bosses at crime intelligence headquarters in Pretoria are sitting on their hands, too afraid to make a wrong move in the run-up to Mangaung, in case it jeopardises their future in the police.”
That’s how well-placed intelligence sources describe the sensitive circumstances surrounding them.
In the latest saga of dirty tricks in Spy versus Spy – which was a closely guarded secret until now – Daily Maverick can reveal that the Toshiba laptop of acting head of crime intelligence, Major-General Chris Ngcobo, mysteriously disappeared from the boot of his car, together with sensitive intelligence documents.
In a handwritten sworn statement, Ngcobo’s official driver, Ernest Masemola, said he stopped on 24 September with a Ford Focus in Esselen Street, in Sunnyside in Pretoria, to pick up photographs from Photo Plus. From there he travelled to the Brooklyn Mall and then drove Ngcobo to Doornpoort in the north of Pretoria.
“I parked the car outside [with] my commanding officer, Major-General Chris Ngcobo, [and we] both got out of the car. We walked together to the boot of the car and when I opened it we discovered his laptop was missing.”
Police spokesperson Brigadier Phuti Setati declined to comment on the incident.
Ngcobo, a former head of Protection and Security Services in the Free State and a former head of VIP Protection, was appointed as acting top police spy by national police commissioner Riah Phiyega “to bring stability” to crime intelligence after the position was vacated following the suspension of controversial former intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli.
Both local and foreign intelligence sources voiced their concern to Daily Maverick that soon after his appointment, Ngcobo suspended – until after the Mangaung conference is done and dusted – all official authorisation of telephone tapping for agents working on deep cover operations within organised crime syndicates. This ban on surveillance was recently eased somewhat after an investigating advocate from the prosecuting authority intervened.
According to senior colleagues, Ngcobo is sitting with an explosive docket regarding one of his predecessors as acting head of intelligence – and the main rival of Mdluli to this top post, Major-General Mark Hankel – without taking any action. It has been reliably learned that the dossier recommends that action be taken against Hankel regarding the following two issues:
Hankel, the former head of crime intelligence’s operational intelligence analysis section, is a very powerful officer in the division and had always been seen as the main rival of Mdluli for the top post. He was instrumental in drafting the controversial secret report presented to the inspector general of intelligence, Faith Radebe, earlier this year, outlining the allegations of fraud and misappropriation of the slush fund against Mdluli.
The controversy surrounding crime intelligence culminated last year when, with the stroke of a pen, almost the entire top management of the police’s crime intelligence were instructed to vacate their offices and move to other sections in the SAPS. Reacting soon after the purge, police spokesperson Major-General Nonkululeko Mbatha said that “certain interventions have been done directed at the optimal functioning of the environment.” All this was done in the interest of the service, she added.
In total, 11 members of management received their walking letters, and one of them had been suspended while under investigation by the Hawks. They were redeployed to other sections in the SAPS.
“This was not a spur of the moment decision,” a senior police source close to crime intelligence explained soon after the purge. “The investigation into the activities there had been ongoing for quite some time.”
This drastic move by then-acting national police commissioner, Major-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, was a sequel to the crackdown by the Hawks on the controversial division. Mdluli was the first casualty of the purge after the Hawks chief, General Anwar Dramat, received instructions to clean out crime intelligence, starting at the top. Top Cape Town cop, Colonel Piet Viljoen, was brought up to Gauteng as part of the behind-the-scenes investigation.
For some time now, it has been possible to sense from within the ranks of crime intelligence an eerie atmosphere of distrust since Mdluli’s arrest, especially as the police spies started to panic and closed ranks. (Mdluli was recently cleared of the murder charge, but remains on suspension.)
The next to go was the controversial former Gauteng boss, Joey Mabasa, who fell from grace owing to his wife’s links with the Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir’s wife. Mabasa took a severance package last year and left the police quietly.
In another strange move by the crime intelligence top brass, the police refused to give reasons for the massive destruction of extremely valuable and sensitive documents and surveillance material regarding the activities of international crime syndicates and local drug lords soon after Mdluli was arrested for murder last year.
It is believed that the purge of the police’s spy unit in November last year was partly the result of the bitter internal political struggle which lead to the panicky destruction of vital evidence that pointed to links by top ANC politicians and family members with crime syndicate leaders.
According to intelligence sources, Operations Dante and Snowman were two top secret intelligence-driven investigations into the links of South African crime bosses with, in particular, the dangerous crime syndicates operating from the Balkan countries – with the main focus on Serbia and Montenegro.
“There were at least 30 targets whose telephones were legally tapped in these operations,” sources closely connected to these deep cover operations said.
Some of the key “targets” the agents were eavesdropping on were, among others, the slain gangland boss, Cyril Beeka, the murdered king of sleaze, Lolly Jackson, the Czech fugitive, Radovan Krejcir, one of his Serbian business associates, Veselin “Vesco” Laganin, and convicted drug dealer, Glen Agliotti.
Asked for comment, the then Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Macintosh Polela, said: “We don’t give out information on crime intelligence operations. As such, I’m unable to respond to any of your questions.”
Since Phiyega took over as police commissioner earlier this year, Mkhwanazi was redeployed. Before she took over the reins, he had been rumoured to be the frontrunner for the intelligence post. Mkhwanazi took the decisive decision last year to suspend Mdluli from his post as intelligence boss pending the outcome of the murder trial.
According to well-placed sources, within days of Mdluli’s arrest, Hankel withdrew particular crime intelligence material from the vaults at crime intelligence head office in Pretoria, and the frantic shredding started around the clock, destroying vital evidence regarding international organised crime syndicates. Hankel, who is regarded as “very knowledgeable”, with a lot of sensitive information, including the criminal activities of influential people, declined to comment.
Showing his hand in this relentless battle for the heart of crime intelligence, soon after his arrest, Mdluli handed the so-called Ground Coverage Report to President Jacob Zuma, in which it is alleged that certain high-profile ANC leaders, including Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize and Bheki Cele, plotted to overthrow Zuma. These claims of a conspiracy against Zuma were vehemently denied.
The Hawks, which relied heavily on information from the police’s crime intelligence division for its own investigations, severed all links, with crime intelligence due to the breach in trust; the working relationship soured when the super cops discovered that the phones of Hawks investigators were being illegally tapped by crime intelligence.
Only a few weeks away, the ANC’s Mangaung conference will define the winners and losers, at least for the time being. One question remains difficult to answer, however: will the police crime intelligence unit ever become what it is supposed to be – an elite department whose only true masters are the people of South Africa? DM
Source: Daily Maverick
The police’s crime intelligence division – in theory the backbone of crime prevention and the effective combating of crime in South Africa – appear to have become so politicised with factional in-fighting that this expert unit have suffered from paralysis since the struggle for the top post as spy master intensified last year.
“The spy bosses at crime intelligence headquarters in Pretoria are sitting on their hands, too afraid to make a wrong move in the run-up to Mangaung, in case it jeopardises their future in the police.”
That’s how well-placed intelligence sources describe the sensitive circumstances surrounding them.
In the latest saga of dirty tricks in Spy versus Spy – which was a closely guarded secret until now – Daily Maverick can reveal that the Toshiba laptop of acting head of crime intelligence, Major-General Chris Ngcobo, mysteriously disappeared from the boot of his car, together with sensitive intelligence documents.
In a handwritten sworn statement, Ngcobo’s official driver, Ernest Masemola, said he stopped on 24 September with a Ford Focus in Esselen Street, in Sunnyside in Pretoria, to pick up photographs from Photo Plus. From there he travelled to the Brooklyn Mall and then drove Ngcobo to Doornpoort in the north of Pretoria.
“I parked the car outside [with] my commanding officer, Major-General Chris Ngcobo, [and we] both got out of the car. We walked together to the boot of the car and when I opened it we discovered his laptop was missing.”
Police spokesperson Brigadier Phuti Setati declined to comment on the incident.
Ngcobo, a former head of Protection and Security Services in the Free State and a former head of VIP Protection, was appointed as acting top police spy by national police commissioner Riah Phiyega “to bring stability” to crime intelligence after the position was vacated following the suspension of controversial former intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli.
Both local and foreign intelligence sources voiced their concern to Daily Maverick that soon after his appointment, Ngcobo suspended – until after the Mangaung conference is done and dusted – all official authorisation of telephone tapping for agents working on deep cover operations within organised crime syndicates. This ban on surveillance was recently eased somewhat after an investigating advocate from the prosecuting authority intervened.
According to senior colleagues, Ngcobo is sitting with an explosive docket regarding one of his predecessors as acting head of intelligence – and the main rival of Mdluli to this top post, Major-General Mark Hankel – without taking any action. It has been reliably learned that the dossier recommends that action be taken against Hankel regarding the following two issues:
- The leakage of information;
- The illegal interception of telephone conversations of other government departments as well as the use of the Secret Services Account (SSA).
Hankel, the former head of crime intelligence’s operational intelligence analysis section, is a very powerful officer in the division and had always been seen as the main rival of Mdluli for the top post. He was instrumental in drafting the controversial secret report presented to the inspector general of intelligence, Faith Radebe, earlier this year, outlining the allegations of fraud and misappropriation of the slush fund against Mdluli.
The controversy surrounding crime intelligence culminated last year when, with the stroke of a pen, almost the entire top management of the police’s crime intelligence were instructed to vacate their offices and move to other sections in the SAPS. Reacting soon after the purge, police spokesperson Major-General Nonkululeko Mbatha said that “certain interventions have been done directed at the optimal functioning of the environment.” All this was done in the interest of the service, she added.
In total, 11 members of management received their walking letters, and one of them had been suspended while under investigation by the Hawks. They were redeployed to other sections in the SAPS.
“This was not a spur of the moment decision,” a senior police source close to crime intelligence explained soon after the purge. “The investigation into the activities there had been ongoing for quite some time.”
This drastic move by then-acting national police commissioner, Major-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, was a sequel to the crackdown by the Hawks on the controversial division. Mdluli was the first casualty of the purge after the Hawks chief, General Anwar Dramat, received instructions to clean out crime intelligence, starting at the top. Top Cape Town cop, Colonel Piet Viljoen, was brought up to Gauteng as part of the behind-the-scenes investigation.
For some time now, it has been possible to sense from within the ranks of crime intelligence an eerie atmosphere of distrust since Mdluli’s arrest, especially as the police spies started to panic and closed ranks. (Mdluli was recently cleared of the murder charge, but remains on suspension.)
The next to go was the controversial former Gauteng boss, Joey Mabasa, who fell from grace owing to his wife’s links with the Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir’s wife. Mabasa took a severance package last year and left the police quietly.
In another strange move by the crime intelligence top brass, the police refused to give reasons for the massive destruction of extremely valuable and sensitive documents and surveillance material regarding the activities of international crime syndicates and local drug lords soon after Mdluli was arrested for murder last year.
It is believed that the purge of the police’s spy unit in November last year was partly the result of the bitter internal political struggle which lead to the panicky destruction of vital evidence that pointed to links by top ANC politicians and family members with crime syndicate leaders.
According to intelligence sources, Operations Dante and Snowman were two top secret intelligence-driven investigations into the links of South African crime bosses with, in particular, the dangerous crime syndicates operating from the Balkan countries – with the main focus on Serbia and Montenegro.
“There were at least 30 targets whose telephones were legally tapped in these operations,” sources closely connected to these deep cover operations said.
Some of the key “targets” the agents were eavesdropping on were, among others, the slain gangland boss, Cyril Beeka, the murdered king of sleaze, Lolly Jackson, the Czech fugitive, Radovan Krejcir, one of his Serbian business associates, Veselin “Vesco” Laganin, and convicted drug dealer, Glen Agliotti.
Asked for comment, the then Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Macintosh Polela, said: “We don’t give out information on crime intelligence operations. As such, I’m unable to respond to any of your questions.”
Since Phiyega took over as police commissioner earlier this year, Mkhwanazi was redeployed. Before she took over the reins, he had been rumoured to be the frontrunner for the intelligence post. Mkhwanazi took the decisive decision last year to suspend Mdluli from his post as intelligence boss pending the outcome of the murder trial.
According to well-placed sources, within days of Mdluli’s arrest, Hankel withdrew particular crime intelligence material from the vaults at crime intelligence head office in Pretoria, and the frantic shredding started around the clock, destroying vital evidence regarding international organised crime syndicates. Hankel, who is regarded as “very knowledgeable”, with a lot of sensitive information, including the criminal activities of influential people, declined to comment.
Showing his hand in this relentless battle for the heart of crime intelligence, soon after his arrest, Mdluli handed the so-called Ground Coverage Report to President Jacob Zuma, in which it is alleged that certain high-profile ANC leaders, including Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize and Bheki Cele, plotted to overthrow Zuma. These claims of a conspiracy against Zuma were vehemently denied.
The Hawks, which relied heavily on information from the police’s crime intelligence division for its own investigations, severed all links, with crime intelligence due to the breach in trust; the working relationship soured when the super cops discovered that the phones of Hawks investigators were being illegally tapped by crime intelligence.
Only a few weeks away, the ANC’s Mangaung conference will define the winners and losers, at least for the time being. One question remains difficult to answer, however: will the police crime intelligence unit ever become what it is supposed to be – an elite department whose only true masters are the people of South Africa? DM
Source: Daily Maverick
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
South Africa's capital of organised crime
Cape Town's image as South Africa's crime-free paradise is being tainted by international underworld figures who flock to the city to ply their dubious trade.
In recent weeks, Serbian fugitive Dobrosav Gavric, Russian Igor Russol and Moroccan Houssain Ait Taleb have made appearances in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court. They have all been branded by police as underworld figures with links to organised crime.
Yesterday, community safety MEC Dan Plato said he was concerned about these developments. "I am worried about the fact that so many high-profile underworld figures are involved in Cape Town. I am worried about the number of foreign nationals involved in organised crime in Cape Town. "My question is: why are all these foreign people heading for Cape Town, doing their business in Cape Town and finding Cape Town so cosy and appropriate?"
Plato said new names of underworld figures were daily being added to the list "known to us". The latest high-profile case involves local businessmen Mark Lifman and André Naudé, who both allegedly ran Specialised Protection Services, providing security to Cape Town nightclubs, without the necessary permits. On Friday, Naudé, the company's CEO, was released on R1000 bail after handing himself over to police. A warrant of arrest has been issued against Lifman, who is in China on business. Charges against 13 of the company's bouncers, including Taleb, were dropped last week.
Yesterday, Russol appeared in court accused of extorting R600000 and a Porsche Cayenne from businesses in and around Cape Town. His bail application was postponed to tomorrow. Next month, Gavric is set to appear in court on two cases. He is accused of fraudulently entering South Africa in 2007 and is also facing extradition to Serbia, where he has to serve a 35-year jail sentence for three murders.
The Serb was driving Cyril Beeka when Beeka was killed in a drive-by shooting last year. Beeka, too, has been branded an underworld figure. He is also said to have had links to SA Secret Service boss Moe Shaik. Last week, Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer told parliament that drugs with a street value of R12-billion had been confiscated in the province since April , and that this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Plato said that though police had managed to prevent drugs from finding their way into the provinces via the roads, the ports were "wide open". He said: "We heard through the grapevine that [some] underground figures are also responsible for drug trafficking. "We're dealing with high-profile, professional and sophisticated gang and drug bosses and we need people to outplay them. I do not believe the SAPS in its current format is in that position," he said. Plato said this was a clear indication that specialised police units should be reinstated. Plato said he had met Lifman and businessman Jerome Booysen, who have both been linked to the underworld.
Booysen has been fingered in court as a possible suspect in the Beeka murder. He has also been linked to Specialised Protection Services and suspected of being a leader of the Sexy Boys gang. Both men, Plato said, wanted to clear their names and insisted they were not involved in crime. He admitted that he had been criticised for meeting the two, but said it was the right thing to do. "Many are saying: 'Don't speak to gangsters.' My take is, if we are not going to start speaking to these people, who is going to talk to them? Who is going to change their mindsets? "Booysen is the president of the Belhar Rugby Football Club. He deals with vulnerable youngsters. It was appropriate for me to face him and challenge him. But he said: 'I'm not giving them drugs'."
Plato said Lifman had denied being linked to the murder of Yuri "the Russian" Ulianitski. Ulianitski was killed in a late-night ambush that also claimed the life of his four-year-old daughter, Yulia, in May 2007. After meeting Plato, Lifman left the country. Lawyer William Booth confirmed a warrant of arrest had been issued against him.
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said the elite unit had embarked on a "crackdown on the security industry in Cape Town".
Source: Times Live
In recent weeks, Serbian fugitive Dobrosav Gavric, Russian Igor Russol and Moroccan Houssain Ait Taleb have made appearances in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court. They have all been branded by police as underworld figures with links to organised crime.
Yesterday, community safety MEC Dan Plato said he was concerned about these developments. "I am worried about the fact that so many high-profile underworld figures are involved in Cape Town. I am worried about the number of foreign nationals involved in organised crime in Cape Town. "My question is: why are all these foreign people heading for Cape Town, doing their business in Cape Town and finding Cape Town so cosy and appropriate?"
Plato said new names of underworld figures were daily being added to the list "known to us". The latest high-profile case involves local businessmen Mark Lifman and André Naudé, who both allegedly ran Specialised Protection Services, providing security to Cape Town nightclubs, without the necessary permits. On Friday, Naudé, the company's CEO, was released on R1000 bail after handing himself over to police. A warrant of arrest has been issued against Lifman, who is in China on business. Charges against 13 of the company's bouncers, including Taleb, were dropped last week.
Yesterday, Russol appeared in court accused of extorting R600000 and a Porsche Cayenne from businesses in and around Cape Town. His bail application was postponed to tomorrow. Next month, Gavric is set to appear in court on two cases. He is accused of fraudulently entering South Africa in 2007 and is also facing extradition to Serbia, where he has to serve a 35-year jail sentence for three murders.
The Serb was driving Cyril Beeka when Beeka was killed in a drive-by shooting last year. Beeka, too, has been branded an underworld figure. He is also said to have had links to SA Secret Service boss Moe Shaik. Last week, Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer told parliament that drugs with a street value of R12-billion had been confiscated in the province since April , and that this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Plato said that though police had managed to prevent drugs from finding their way into the provinces via the roads, the ports were "wide open". He said: "We heard through the grapevine that [some] underground figures are also responsible for drug trafficking. "We're dealing with high-profile, professional and sophisticated gang and drug bosses and we need people to outplay them. I do not believe the SAPS in its current format is in that position," he said. Plato said this was a clear indication that specialised police units should be reinstated. Plato said he had met Lifman and businessman Jerome Booysen, who have both been linked to the underworld.
Booysen has been fingered in court as a possible suspect in the Beeka murder. He has also been linked to Specialised Protection Services and suspected of being a leader of the Sexy Boys gang. Both men, Plato said, wanted to clear their names and insisted they were not involved in crime. He admitted that he had been criticised for meeting the two, but said it was the right thing to do. "Many are saying: 'Don't speak to gangsters.' My take is, if we are not going to start speaking to these people, who is going to talk to them? Who is going to change their mindsets? "Booysen is the president of the Belhar Rugby Football Club. He deals with vulnerable youngsters. It was appropriate for me to face him and challenge him. But he said: 'I'm not giving them drugs'."
Plato said Lifman had denied being linked to the murder of Yuri "the Russian" Ulianitski. Ulianitski was killed in a late-night ambush that also claimed the life of his four-year-old daughter, Yulia, in May 2007. After meeting Plato, Lifman left the country. Lawyer William Booth confirmed a warrant of arrest had been issued against him.
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said the elite unit had embarked on a "crackdown on the security industry in Cape Town".
Source: Times Live
Friday, March 25, 2011
Jailed Radovan Krejcir reaches a deal with the Hawks
Krejcir is now behind bars in a secret location. He had been on the run since Tuesday night when a Hawks raid found a hit list containing the name of Cyril Beeka, who was killed on Monday in Cape Town. The list also included security consultant Paul O’Sullivan, a doctor and state prosecutor.
One of Krejcir’s attorney’s Eddie Claasen said everything went according to plan when Krejcir presented himself to police. “What was intended was that Mr. Krejcir can be handed over to the police and avoid the media frenzy that previously took place at the raided Mr. Krejcir’s home,” he said.
Meanwhile, O’Sullivan, who has been investigating Krejcir, said his detention does not mean people on the Czech fugitive’s hit list are now safe. He said those on the list should still take precautions, “This is a man who was able to arrange murders in the Czech Republic while he was in prison. He was arranging murders in the Czech Republic while he was in the Seychelles.”
The Hawks’ McIntosh Polela said Krejcir is now in a secret location, “He was detained in the early hours of the morning and we are still making provisions for when he is likely to appear in court.” Krejcir had been due to hand himself over on Thursday morning.
Source: Eye Witness News
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Krejcir scoffs at 'Mafia boss' claims
Johannesburg - Fugitive Czech billionaire Radovan Krejcir scoffs at suggestions that he is “some big Mafia boss from the Eastern Bloc” and says he has “absolutely nothing to hide”. Breaking his silence ahead of a renewed bid by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to have him extradited to the Czech Republic, Krejcir told Rapport he was the victim of “fabricated stories” and a “dirty plan” concocted to “get me deported from this country, either legally or illegally”. He says that his record in the Czech Republic is “clean” and claims the country's Constitutional Court has overturned a prison sentenced imposed on him. Despite this, the Czech authorities still want him extradited.
Krejcir has accused “elements” in the NPA and police, Czech intelligence operatives and prominent whistleblower Paul O'Sullivan – who describes Krejcir as the head of an “evil trans-national crime syndicate” that “wants to control the underworld in South Africa” - of conspiring against him. He claims O'Sullivan is in the pay of the Czech intelligence services and “stands to benefit by $500 000” if Krejcir is successfully extradited. O'Sullivan on Saturday laughed off the claim.
Krejcir - who was sentenced in absentia in the Czech Republic to six-and-a-half years imprisonment for tax fraud and reportedly investigated on charges of conspiracy to murder, counterfeiting, extortion and abduction – is a flamboyant man, given to ostentatious displays of wealth and power. In recent weeks his links to a coterie of controversial South African businessmen and underworld figures has been in the spotlight.
He arrived in South Africa in 2007 and was arrested at OR Tambo international airport on an Interpol “red notice” while travelling with a Seychelles passport, issued in the name Egbert Jules Savy. An application for his extradition was unsuccessful. Krejcir, who has applied for political asylum, has since ensconced himself in South Africa. He holds court at the Harbour Fish Market restaurant in the Bedford Centre, usually with one of his two Porsches, a Lamborghini Murcielago, a Ferrari Spider or a Mercedes parked in a private, roped-off bay near the front door. He has free reign of the restaurant.
One corner of the outside patio is shielded with bullet-proof glass, installed at Krejcir's expense after he discovered that a “Russian hit team” had been sent to South Africa by the Czech government to snatch or kill him and planned to position snipers in a block of flats across the road from the restaurant. Until his murder in May this year, Teazers strip club boss Lolly Jackson – along with George Smith, the man who would be accused of his murder, were Krejcir's frequent companions at the restaurant.
Krejcir's R20m Bedfordview home – which he shares with his wife Katerina Krejcirova, a 9-month-old baby boy and their teenage son, is a four storey mansion replete with a steel and glass lift, aquarium and an infinity pool looking out over the Johannesburg skyline. They also own a holiday home on the Vaal Dam. Once a week he rents Kyalami racetrack so that he and his son can race superbikes and sportscars. “Lolly and I were very good friends because of my sickness with cars. I love cars. He loved cars. Every week we rented Kyalami for two hours to have some adrenaline because I cannot travel, I cannot do fuck-all. I really love these toys.”
Krejcir says he has no desire to return to the Czech Republic. “I believe this is the best country in the world,” he said this week. “I don't want to go to the Czech Republic because I'll never have the chance of a fair trial and they will kill me.” There, 5km from the capital, Prague, Krejcir once lived on a 2 000m² estate in a villa estimated to have cost R151m. It boasted a squash court, basketball court, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a giant aquarium containing reef sharks, a 1.7m moray eel and “other dangerous fishes”. There was also an enclosure on the property for a pet tiger.
Czech police say the house contained a secret strongroom packed with weapons, jewellery, share certificates and classified police documents. Krejcir had amassed a fortune by the time he was 30, making most it during the wave of state industry privatisation that followed the 1989 “Velvet Revolution” which saw the overthrow of the authoritarian communist government.
In June 2005, balaclava-clad security police and state prosecutors swooped on Krejcir's home. Press reports suggest that Krejcir escaped through a bathroom window. According to press reports, he was supposedly spotted three days later in neighbouring Slovakia at a petrol station filling up the tank of a Lamborghini. He says he was allowed to leave by a state prosecutor. “In my bathroom there was no window. I don't know how you could escape from 20 guys with machine guns and masks on their faces.”
In the wake of his disappearance, police said they had found billions of crowns in fake currency at a factory owned by Krejcir. Mixed into the boxes of cash was 8 million Czech crowns (about R3m) of genuine currency. Krejcir says the boxes of cash were an elaborate gift for a close friend who was turning 40. “We as rich people after the revolution gave some presents like this. The top and bottom of the boxes was real money and the middle was fake and inside it would say: 'Happy birthday'” “So you give a present that looks like it is billions of crowns but in reality it is only 8 million crowns.”
Krejcir next turned up in the Seychelles where he gave financial support to the ruling elite. As a result, he says, “they offered me and my family a new identity”. “I submitted an application and received from Home Affairs passports under the name Egbert Jules Savy for me, Sandra Savy for my wife and Greg Savy for my son. I came to South Africa believing my passport was a genuine one.” The Seychelles authorities later claimed the passports were fake. But Krejcir says “it is not important if the passport is false or not because if you are successful in getting political asylum, it doesn't matter how you ended up in the this country because you tried to save your life.”
Krejcir argues that he is a Seychelles citizen and that his Czech citizenship lapsed when he accepted a new passport. In the Seychelles, to stave off boredom, he wrote a book titled: Radovan Krejcir - Revealed. “It was so boring there, like being a prisoner in paradise,” he said. “At least I could go diving and fishing...” In the book he claimed he had advanced about R20m for the 2002 election campaign of Czech Social Democratic candidate Stanislav Gross and in exchange had received a promissory note which stipulated that if the election bid was successful, Krejcir would be given control of the State oil company, Cepro. Gross later did an about turn and Krejcir was arrested on a “trumped-up charge of fraud”. That same year, Krejcir's father was kidnapped. He was never seen again. Krejcir alleges his father was killed by Czech state agents who believed he had the promissory note in his possession. He believes his father's body was dissolved in a vat of acid.
In early 2006, while Krejcir sunned himself on the Seychelles beaches, Czech newspapers linked him to the assassination of Frantisek Mrazek, the so-called “Godfather” of organised crime in the country. Mrazek was shot by a sniper outside the building that housed his offices. Krejcir laughs when asked if he had anything to do with the killing. “Yes, I shot one bullet from the Seychelles and the bullet travelled all the way direct to his heart. I'm very good. “What must I say my man? I saw this guy twice in my life. We never had a fight. It is the same situation as my father. They killed him and afterwards said it was my criminals. All the time it was the top government and secret service guys.”
“They say he (Mrazek) was the boss of the Mafia. Apparently, if you believe them, there are Mafia bosses all over the place. If you know any more people from the Czech republic, you probably know more bosses. I must be the worst one because I am wanted for murders and all this.”
Krejcir – who suggests his detractors have found him guilty by association – readily admits that he befriended or became acquainted with several of South Africa's most controversial businessmen and notorious underworld figures. Among them were Jackson, Smith, security company kingpin Cyril Beeka, Brett Kebble murder accused and convicted druglord Glen Agliotti, banker and self-confessed money launderer Alekos Panayi and Gauteng police crime intelligence head, Commissioner Joey Mabasa. “So what?” he asked. “People find me because they believe I've got money, that I'm an opportunity for them, that I can do some business with them. So the people are coming, especially to this restaurant, like a bee on honey.” He said he had a wide network of contacts.
Krejcir said he befriended Jackson's alleged killer, George Smith, in April 2007 while he was awaiting his extradition hearing. The two shared a cell at Kempton Park police station and after their release, Smith helped him “get connected” introduced him to “most of the people” he knows today. “I don't need anybody. I've got my money clean overseas. I've never made one rand in this country from any business. I'm enjoying my life. I bought property, assets, cars. I'm spending money which I brought in officially through the reserve banks of the Czech Republic and South Africa.”
Krejcir believes it will be to his advantage if the State wins their application tomorrow (Monday) for a review of the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court decision that has allowed him to remain in the country. If they do succeed, the State will proceed with a new extradition application. “If they start it again, it will take another four years. Even if they decide to extradite me, they cannot do so until the political asylum case is finished.”
Source: News 24
Krejcir has accused “elements” in the NPA and police, Czech intelligence operatives and prominent whistleblower Paul O'Sullivan – who describes Krejcir as the head of an “evil trans-national crime syndicate” that “wants to control the underworld in South Africa” - of conspiring against him. He claims O'Sullivan is in the pay of the Czech intelligence services and “stands to benefit by $500 000” if Krejcir is successfully extradited. O'Sullivan on Saturday laughed off the claim.
Krejcir - who was sentenced in absentia in the Czech Republic to six-and-a-half years imprisonment for tax fraud and reportedly investigated on charges of conspiracy to murder, counterfeiting, extortion and abduction – is a flamboyant man, given to ostentatious displays of wealth and power. In recent weeks his links to a coterie of controversial South African businessmen and underworld figures has been in the spotlight.
He arrived in South Africa in 2007 and was arrested at OR Tambo international airport on an Interpol “red notice” while travelling with a Seychelles passport, issued in the name Egbert Jules Savy. An application for his extradition was unsuccessful. Krejcir, who has applied for political asylum, has since ensconced himself in South Africa. He holds court at the Harbour Fish Market restaurant in the Bedford Centre, usually with one of his two Porsches, a Lamborghini Murcielago, a Ferrari Spider or a Mercedes parked in a private, roped-off bay near the front door. He has free reign of the restaurant.
One corner of the outside patio is shielded with bullet-proof glass, installed at Krejcir's expense after he discovered that a “Russian hit team” had been sent to South Africa by the Czech government to snatch or kill him and planned to position snipers in a block of flats across the road from the restaurant. Until his murder in May this year, Teazers strip club boss Lolly Jackson – along with George Smith, the man who would be accused of his murder, were Krejcir's frequent companions at the restaurant.
Krejcir's R20m Bedfordview home – which he shares with his wife Katerina Krejcirova, a 9-month-old baby boy and their teenage son, is a four storey mansion replete with a steel and glass lift, aquarium and an infinity pool looking out over the Johannesburg skyline. They also own a holiday home on the Vaal Dam. Once a week he rents Kyalami racetrack so that he and his son can race superbikes and sportscars. “Lolly and I were very good friends because of my sickness with cars. I love cars. He loved cars. Every week we rented Kyalami for two hours to have some adrenaline because I cannot travel, I cannot do fuck-all. I really love these toys.”
Krejcir says he has no desire to return to the Czech Republic. “I believe this is the best country in the world,” he said this week. “I don't want to go to the Czech Republic because I'll never have the chance of a fair trial and they will kill me.” There, 5km from the capital, Prague, Krejcir once lived on a 2 000m² estate in a villa estimated to have cost R151m. It boasted a squash court, basketball court, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a giant aquarium containing reef sharks, a 1.7m moray eel and “other dangerous fishes”. There was also an enclosure on the property for a pet tiger.
Czech police say the house contained a secret strongroom packed with weapons, jewellery, share certificates and classified police documents. Krejcir had amassed a fortune by the time he was 30, making most it during the wave of state industry privatisation that followed the 1989 “Velvet Revolution” which saw the overthrow of the authoritarian communist government.
In June 2005, balaclava-clad security police and state prosecutors swooped on Krejcir's home. Press reports suggest that Krejcir escaped through a bathroom window. According to press reports, he was supposedly spotted three days later in neighbouring Slovakia at a petrol station filling up the tank of a Lamborghini. He says he was allowed to leave by a state prosecutor. “In my bathroom there was no window. I don't know how you could escape from 20 guys with machine guns and masks on their faces.”
In the wake of his disappearance, police said they had found billions of crowns in fake currency at a factory owned by Krejcir. Mixed into the boxes of cash was 8 million Czech crowns (about R3m) of genuine currency. Krejcir says the boxes of cash were an elaborate gift for a close friend who was turning 40. “We as rich people after the revolution gave some presents like this. The top and bottom of the boxes was real money and the middle was fake and inside it would say: 'Happy birthday'” “So you give a present that looks like it is billions of crowns but in reality it is only 8 million crowns.”
Krejcir next turned up in the Seychelles where he gave financial support to the ruling elite. As a result, he says, “they offered me and my family a new identity”. “I submitted an application and received from Home Affairs passports under the name Egbert Jules Savy for me, Sandra Savy for my wife and Greg Savy for my son. I came to South Africa believing my passport was a genuine one.” The Seychelles authorities later claimed the passports were fake. But Krejcir says “it is not important if the passport is false or not because if you are successful in getting political asylum, it doesn't matter how you ended up in the this country because you tried to save your life.”
Krejcir argues that he is a Seychelles citizen and that his Czech citizenship lapsed when he accepted a new passport. In the Seychelles, to stave off boredom, he wrote a book titled: Radovan Krejcir - Revealed. “It was so boring there, like being a prisoner in paradise,” he said. “At least I could go diving and fishing...” In the book he claimed he had advanced about R20m for the 2002 election campaign of Czech Social Democratic candidate Stanislav Gross and in exchange had received a promissory note which stipulated that if the election bid was successful, Krejcir would be given control of the State oil company, Cepro. Gross later did an about turn and Krejcir was arrested on a “trumped-up charge of fraud”. That same year, Krejcir's father was kidnapped. He was never seen again. Krejcir alleges his father was killed by Czech state agents who believed he had the promissory note in his possession. He believes his father's body was dissolved in a vat of acid.
In early 2006, while Krejcir sunned himself on the Seychelles beaches, Czech newspapers linked him to the assassination of Frantisek Mrazek, the so-called “Godfather” of organised crime in the country. Mrazek was shot by a sniper outside the building that housed his offices. Krejcir laughs when asked if he had anything to do with the killing. “Yes, I shot one bullet from the Seychelles and the bullet travelled all the way direct to his heart. I'm very good. “What must I say my man? I saw this guy twice in my life. We never had a fight. It is the same situation as my father. They killed him and afterwards said it was my criminals. All the time it was the top government and secret service guys.”
“They say he (Mrazek) was the boss of the Mafia. Apparently, if you believe them, there are Mafia bosses all over the place. If you know any more people from the Czech republic, you probably know more bosses. I must be the worst one because I am wanted for murders and all this.”
Krejcir – who suggests his detractors have found him guilty by association – readily admits that he befriended or became acquainted with several of South Africa's most controversial businessmen and notorious underworld figures. Among them were Jackson, Smith, security company kingpin Cyril Beeka, Brett Kebble murder accused and convicted druglord Glen Agliotti, banker and self-confessed money launderer Alekos Panayi and Gauteng police crime intelligence head, Commissioner Joey Mabasa. “So what?” he asked. “People find me because they believe I've got money, that I'm an opportunity for them, that I can do some business with them. So the people are coming, especially to this restaurant, like a bee on honey.” He said he had a wide network of contacts.
Krejcir said he befriended Jackson's alleged killer, George Smith, in April 2007 while he was awaiting his extradition hearing. The two shared a cell at Kempton Park police station and after their release, Smith helped him “get connected” introduced him to “most of the people” he knows today. “I don't need anybody. I've got my money clean overseas. I've never made one rand in this country from any business. I'm enjoying my life. I bought property, assets, cars. I'm spending money which I brought in officially through the reserve banks of the Czech Republic and South Africa.”
Krejcir believes it will be to his advantage if the State wins their application tomorrow (Monday) for a review of the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court decision that has allowed him to remain in the country. If they do succeed, the State will proceed with a new extradition application. “If they start it again, it will take another four years. Even if they decide to extradite me, they cannot do so until the political asylum case is finished.”
Source: News 24
Friday, May 7, 2010
Jackson's underworld links surface
Police had not ruled out the possibility that the person who killed Lolly Jackson might have left the country, as their investigations continued on Friday. "We are considering all possibilities," said spokesperson Colonel Eugene Opperman.
The Jeep Cherokee that Jackson arrived in at the Kempton Park house on Monday, and which subsequently disappeared, had been found, he said. Police received a call on Monday night from a man saying Jackson had been shot and that he wanted to hand himself in. But, when they arrived at the rendezvous point, the man was not there. Opperman confirmed they want to speak to George Smith - a former police informer believed to be a Cypriot - about the murder. "Somebody somewhere must be hiding him," he said.
A photograph of Smith was splashed across newspapers on Thursday as police released titbits of information on the case to the media. His name was not on the Interpol wanted list by Friday morning.
Jackson, who owned a chain of strip clubs, was murdered in Kempton Park on Monday night. Theories on the motive for the murder read like plots in a crime novel, with money laundering, a debt dispute and a glitch during the purchase of a performance car put forward by observers. Google searches on some of the people quoted on Jackson's death in the various articles brought up stories of protection racketeers, "security specialists", drug gangs and other underworld activities.
Earlier this week police interviewed Czech Republic citizen Radovan Krejcir for over an hour. His lawyer Ian Small-Smith said the investigators were trying to "unravel the matter" with the help of Krejcir, who is on the run from Czech authorities for tax fraud after being sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. He was on the Interpol wanted list when he was arrested entering South Africa, and is in the process of challenging an extradition attempt by the Czech Republic. Small-Smith said once someone was caught for Jackson's murder, Krejcir would co-operate fully with a trial and denied a report that this may be in exchange for a deal that the extradition matter be dropped.
The web of intrigue even included a cross reference to the Brett Kebble murder, with an allegation by the partner of a former stripper that a Ducati motorbike Jackson owned was found at the crime scene. Small-Smith had represented Clinton Nassif, who has made a deal with the State in the case of the murder of Kebble in 2005. The accused, Glenn Agliotti, was convicted of drug trafficking and was now the main witness in the corruption trial of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Small-Smith had also represented State prosecutor Gerrie Nel, when he was briefly detained by police at one stage on the Selebi investigation. Nel, who is currently prosecutor in Selebi's trial, was never charged and was released. He has now been removed from the Kebble case.
Missing German businessman Uwe Gemballa's name also popped up in reports, with Krejcir saying he was supposed to have put up the money for a Porsche conversion franchise that Gemballa wanted to set up in South Africa. Gemballa disappeared after arriving at OR Tambo International Airport in February, and his company was put into provisional liquidation days after.
The Star on Friday quoted a man called Cyril Beeka as saying he had seen Smith on the night Jackson was murdered. A Google search of Beeka brings up stories on the Cape Town "escort agency" scene, his stint as an informer for the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe and a brouhaha over him accompanying intelligence boss Mo Shaik to the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane as a minder.
Beeka had at one time briefly employed Ukrainian Yuri Ulianitski in his security business, but Ulianitski then left to start his own business. Ulianitski was murdered along with his small daughter in 2007 as he faced charges of conspiring to kidnap and for possession of illegal firearms and drugs. Jackson was to have attended court this week in connection with extortion allegations relating to a dispute over a former stripper who fell in love and left his company but then her boyfriend allegedly had to pay Jackson money. But, the spokesperson for a bank that, according to one "this is the true story" whisper, may have fired a manager in connection with the Jackson money laundering theory said: "It could have been anybody. It could have been your gardener. It could have been my gardener." "I gave a waiter who was hitchhiking a lift the other day and next thing I saw his picture in the papers for murder. The man was sitting right next to me in my car. You just never know."
Source: News 24
The Jeep Cherokee that Jackson arrived in at the Kempton Park house on Monday, and which subsequently disappeared, had been found, he said. Police received a call on Monday night from a man saying Jackson had been shot and that he wanted to hand himself in. But, when they arrived at the rendezvous point, the man was not there. Opperman confirmed they want to speak to George Smith - a former police informer believed to be a Cypriot - about the murder. "Somebody somewhere must be hiding him," he said.
A photograph of Smith was splashed across newspapers on Thursday as police released titbits of information on the case to the media. His name was not on the Interpol wanted list by Friday morning.
Jackson, who owned a chain of strip clubs, was murdered in Kempton Park on Monday night. Theories on the motive for the murder read like plots in a crime novel, with money laundering, a debt dispute and a glitch during the purchase of a performance car put forward by observers. Google searches on some of the people quoted on Jackson's death in the various articles brought up stories of protection racketeers, "security specialists", drug gangs and other underworld activities.
Earlier this week police interviewed Czech Republic citizen Radovan Krejcir for over an hour. His lawyer Ian Small-Smith said the investigators were trying to "unravel the matter" with the help of Krejcir, who is on the run from Czech authorities for tax fraud after being sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. He was on the Interpol wanted list when he was arrested entering South Africa, and is in the process of challenging an extradition attempt by the Czech Republic. Small-Smith said once someone was caught for Jackson's murder, Krejcir would co-operate fully with a trial and denied a report that this may be in exchange for a deal that the extradition matter be dropped.
The web of intrigue even included a cross reference to the Brett Kebble murder, with an allegation by the partner of a former stripper that a Ducati motorbike Jackson owned was found at the crime scene. Small-Smith had represented Clinton Nassif, who has made a deal with the State in the case of the murder of Kebble in 2005. The accused, Glenn Agliotti, was convicted of drug trafficking and was now the main witness in the corruption trial of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Small-Smith had also represented State prosecutor Gerrie Nel, when he was briefly detained by police at one stage on the Selebi investigation. Nel, who is currently prosecutor in Selebi's trial, was never charged and was released. He has now been removed from the Kebble case.
Missing German businessman Uwe Gemballa's name also popped up in reports, with Krejcir saying he was supposed to have put up the money for a Porsche conversion franchise that Gemballa wanted to set up in South Africa. Gemballa disappeared after arriving at OR Tambo International Airport in February, and his company was put into provisional liquidation days after.
The Star on Friday quoted a man called Cyril Beeka as saying he had seen Smith on the night Jackson was murdered. A Google search of Beeka brings up stories on the Cape Town "escort agency" scene, his stint as an informer for the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe and a brouhaha over him accompanying intelligence boss Mo Shaik to the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane as a minder.
Beeka had at one time briefly employed Ukrainian Yuri Ulianitski in his security business, but Ulianitski then left to start his own business. Ulianitski was murdered along with his small daughter in 2007 as he faced charges of conspiring to kidnap and for possession of illegal firearms and drugs. Jackson was to have attended court this week in connection with extortion allegations relating to a dispute over a former stripper who fell in love and left his company but then her boyfriend allegedly had to pay Jackson money. But, the spokesperson for a bank that, according to one "this is the true story" whisper, may have fired a manager in connection with the Jackson money laundering theory said: "It could have been anybody. It could have been your gardener. It could have been my gardener." "I gave a waiter who was hitchhiking a lift the other day and next thing I saw his picture in the papers for murder. The man was sitting right next to me in my car. You just never know."
Source: News 24
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