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The state has withdrawn charges of fraud against the head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) Robert McBride and his two co-accused. McBride was due to appear at the Pretoria Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
“Members of the media are advised that the prosecution team, after consultation with witnesses in preparation for trial, established that the state will not be able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt hence the withdrawal of the charges,” the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said in a statement.
The charges came after McBride was accused of falsifying a report by Ipid which claimed Hawks officials were innocent of unlawful renditions. The Ipid head denied the allegations, saying they were part of a plan to target high-profile investigations.
The Hawks’ Crimes Against the State (Cats) unit had been investigating McBride, former director of investigations Matthew Sesoko and former head of Ipid in Limpopo Innocent Khuba for fraud and defeating the ends of justice in relation to their investigation of former Hawks head Lieutenant General Anwa Dramat. Dramat was accused of participating in or authorising the illegal renditions of Zimbabwean nationals in 2010.
Dramat denied the allegations, saying he was being discredited because of his attempts to investigate high-profile people. He told his lawyer that the move against him was motivated by his bid to have the Hawks investigate President Zuma’s upgrades at Nkandla. Dramat later resigned from his position after he reached a settlement with the police.
The report McBride signed, and which exonerated Dramat of any wrongdoing, was found to differ from and exclude information from a previous report which implicated Dramat. McBride defended his report, saying that the earlier report missed key facts.
On Tuesday afternoon, state prosecutor Sello Maema told the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court that it would “no longer be viable” to continue prosecuting McBride.
“After consultations … it has been apparent to the state that a prosecution would no longer be viable and we withdraw all charges,” prosecutor Sello Maema told the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday afternoon.