A hit list found in Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir’s house included the names of slain controversial Cape businessman Cyril Beeka, security consultant Paul O’Sullivan and a state prosecutor, the Hawks said on Wednesday.
Beeka was shot and killed on Monday afternoon in a drive-by shooting by two men on a motorcycle in Modderdam Road in Belville, Cape Town.
The Hawks raided Krejcir’s up-market Bedfordview house, in the east of Johannesburg, on Tuesday night.
Krejcir was not at home.
“The aim was to arrest a 42-year-old suspect who is wanted on charges of fraud and murder,” said Hawks spokesperson Mcintosh Polela.
“The suspect allegedly claimed R4,5-million from an insurance company, after obtaining fraudulent medical documents showing that he had terminal cancer.”
The doctor, Marian Tupy, who issued the alleged fraudulent medical documents recently made a deal with the state. Tupy’s name was also on the hit list, alongside that of O’Sullivan, a former British spy and the former head of security for the Airports Company South Africa, and one of ex-police chief and now fraud convict Jackie Selebi’s main accusers.
The fourth person on the hit list was state prosecutor Riegel du Toit, who was involved in the investigation into the murder of German businessman Uwe Gembella, who was linked to former Teazers boss Lolly Jackson, who was killed last year.
Suspect still at large
Polela said two people were taken in for questioning, but Krejcir was still at large.
“Two suspects were detained for questioning, one in the suspect’s house and another in a nearby house belonging to the suspect’s associate.
“The suspect is still at large. We believe it’s in his interest to hand himself over to the Hawks. We will not let up in our attempts to find him.”
Police officers first went to the wrong house during the raid and reportedly broke through the wrong gate.
“They mistook the gate for the suspect’s gate,” said Polela.
“They went through that house [the wrong house] and over that wall. It provided easy access to the suspect’s house.”
The Star newspaper reported on Wednesday that Beeka was Krejcir’s business partner but that their relationship had recently soured.
Beeka had links with Jackson and reportedly spoke to the prime suspect in the Jackson killing, George Smith, on the night of the murder. Beeka also knew intelligence boss Moe Shaik whom he accompanied to the African National Congress’s conference in Polokwane in 2007.
The Star also reported that the police were investigating a link between Beeka’s murder and that of another underworld figure, Yuri Ulianitski.
Czech authorities have long maintained that Krejcir was linked to organised crime syndicates.
Krejcir, said to be friends with Jackson and Smith, arrived in South Africa in April 2007.
The Witness reported earlier this month that he had intended to use the false cancer diagnosis to try and secure a presidential pardon from the Czech president, according to testimony in court by his doctor.
He has reportedly been twice convicted in absentia in the Czech Republic for fraud. – Sapa