Andy Duffy
A senior police official is being investigated for his role in securing lucrative Angolan diamond deals for controversial businessman Vito Palazzolo.
Andre Lincoln, head of the Cape Town-based presidential investigations task unit, flew to Angola in May, on a trip arranged by Palazzolo. Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi and National Police Commissioner George Fivaz sanctioned the trip, as part of Lincoln’s undercover work into police corruption.
But an investigation Fivaz subsequently ordered into the unit is looking at whether Lincoln actually helped Palazzolo win diamond concessions in Angola. The investigation, run by Western Cape Serious Violent Crime division head Leonard Knipe, is also checking the expenses claim Lincoln submitted and whether Lincoln received any payment from Palazzolo.
The unit refuses to comment, but it is understood unit members believe Lincoln is being smeared in a bid to discredit the unit’s work. Palazzolo also refuses to be drawn, adding that he has not made a written statement to Knipe.
It emerged last week that Palazzolo is a central character in a joint investigation by South African and Italian police. Italian police claim a Mafia-run syndicate operates in Cape Town and Johannesburg. They also believe Palazzolo is helping two fugitives from Italian justice.
Palazzolo denies the claims, and there is no indication that the South African police have found anything to substantiate them. Lincoln’s unit, which was supposedly investigating foreign crime syndicates, took on the Mafia probe in January and closed it down.
Palazzolo wrote to the Angolan embassy on April 30, requesting a visa for Lincoln. Palazzolo, who wrote under the German translation of his name Robert von Palace, said Lincoln was needed to negotiate the Gema Dourada project. The application was written under the letterhead of Cape International Holdings, a company with a Sea Point address and registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Gema Dourada, a diamond field in the Lunda Norte region of Angola, is the second- largest diamond concession in the country.
The allegations against the unit have strained its relations with Fivaz – to whom it makes detailed monthly reports. It is likely the unit is considering shutting down, given that Fivaz’s probe has effectively blown its cover.
The office of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki also sought this week to distance itself from the unit, insisting that Mbeki has had no dealings with Lincoln’s team. Lincoln, a former member of the ANC’s department of intelligence and security, has previously said he reported to Mbeki – a statement supported by police and intelligence sources in Pretoria. It is understood such reports, however, have been made on an informal basis.