Cop up for taxi permit bribes
2003-03-11 21:10
Bloemfontein - A 36-year-old police sergeant appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate's court on Tuesday on a corruption charge for allegedly taking bribes from minibus taxi drivers to push through their driver's permit applications.
Lazarus Makhotoko, who was arrested on Monday, allegedly issued public transport drivers permits in an illegal manner to drivers between November 2001 and 2003.
He was released on R500 bail and his case was postponed to April 11.
Constable Thandi Mbambo said Makhotoko allegedly issued permits without sending the applicants' fingerprints to the Criminal Record Centre.
He would also complete documents stating that applicants had clean records and send the forms to the traffic department so that they could issue the driver's permit, Mbambo said.
Police believed the applicants were either in a hurry to get their permits or they had criminal records.
The tariff for a drivers permit is usually R26 but Makhotoko was charging between R50 to a R100 for his "speedy" service, Mbambo said.
- SAPA