NW 'slush fund abuse' to be probed

2012-06-14 14:37

Mahikeng - Reports of senior crime intelligence officials in North West abusing slush funds by making fake right-wing related threats would be investigated, police said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Brigadier Thulane Ngubane said North West police commissioner Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo had confirmed that such a probe would be done.

The Star reported on Thursday that crime intelligence officials paid informers to make fake right-wing related threats against the government.

They apparently did so in order to claim money from the unit’s secret service account, by ‘remunerating’ sources.

Unnamed sources told the newspaper that spy bosses worked their way into the R600m-a-year slush fund by fabricating information to create a false impression of imminent, unprecedented attacks against black people and the African National Congress.

In the run-up to the ANC’s centenary celebrations in the Free State in January, North West officials allegedly used one of their informers to threaten chaos and violence against the ANC unless it stemmed farm attacks.

Remunerate sources

Claiming to have detected a threat, they allegedly asked for and got additional money from the slush fund, on the pretext that they wanted to remunerate sources who had tipped them off.

The money is reportedly shared among those who masterminded the scam.

In one incident, a masked man made threats against black people and the ANC in a recorded video last year. Alongside him was right-winger Andre Visagie, a former secretary-general of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB).

The video was posted on YouTube, and the threats were investigated by various law enforcement agencies.

A confidential document penned by one of the investigators also reportedly pointed to staged events.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Lindela Mashigo said the inspector general of intelligence was probing allegations levelled at the sector.

"I am sure the investigation would encapsulate the North West issue, as it would also look into Intelligence's financial affairs," he said.

- SAPA