Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli plundered the police crime intelligence unit, according to a secret police report, City Press reported on Sunday.
According to the paper, the report details extensive allegations of corruption.
Mdluli’s relatives were appointed to the crime intelligence agent programme without performing any undercover operations. He allegedly used state vehicles, in violation of regulations, and used safe houses for himself and his family. He was appointed to head the unit in 2009. Mdluli’s family travelled more than 50 times on the state’s account, according to the report.
Other allegations against him include a crime intelligence whistleblower being abducted by other crime intelligence operatives. Two journalists were allegedly paid respectively R100 000 to write a positive story about the police, and R50 000 not to publish a story about a senior cop.
Crime intelligence apparently sought to influence political processes in KwaZulu-Natal by buying influence and access, the paper reported.
The report was compiled by senior crime intelligence Majors General Chris de Kock and Mark Hankel. It was submitted to the Inspector-General of Intelligence advocate Faith Radebe in November last year.
Mdluli was suspended last year after his arrest for murder and fraud. These charges which were subsequently withdrawn.
The Mail & Guardian reported on Friday that control of the intelligence services is emerging as a crucial and destructive battleground in the run-up to the ANC’s national conference at Mangaung.
The process appears to be a rerun of the pre-Polokwane period, which was characterised by factional abuse of the security services and at its height resulted in the crime intelligence division intercepting conversations between then-Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and supporters of president Thabo Mbeki, including former prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka and Mbeki himself.
A range of senior security sources, who spoke to the M&G on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issues, placed the current political battle to secure the survival of Mdluli at the apex of their concerns.
Said one veteran senior manager: “I believe that it’s about the run-up to Mangaung — it’s about who is going to control the [communications] interception capacity of the state.”
The sources also referenced the recent departure of the country’s top three spy officials as symptomatic of the problem.
State Security Agency director general Jeff Maqetuka and his deputy for domestic intelligence, Lizo Njenje, quit last year amid allegations that the agency was in “crisis” and state security minister Siyabonga Cwele had pushed Njenje to spy on Cabinet colleagues.
Foreign intelligence supremo Moe Shaik left last month following a protracted battle with Cwele.
In several developments flowing from the politicisation of the security services the M&G can reveal that:
- The broad investigation of abuses in the Crime Intelligence Service (CIS) initiated by the Hawks has been put on ice;
- Hawks boss Anwa Dramat was angered by the December withdrawal of fraud charges against Mdluli, which formed part of the CIS probe;
- Several sources have said that Dramat is on the brink of resigning or being fired; and
- There has been a lobbying campaign against Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, who has been in charge of the police disciplinary process against Mdluli and is regarded as an obstacle to his return.
– Sapa and Staff reporter