/ 3 June 2013

Metro cops admit escorting guests at Gupta wedding

Metro Cops Admit Escorting Guests At Gupta Wedding

Two pleaded not guilty at the police hearing on Monday and one would be charged only when he returned from sick leave, municipal spokesperson Blessing Manale said in a statement.

The internal disciplinary hearing will resume on June 27.

Last month, Tshwane metro police executive director Console Tleane said the extent of the damage caused by the officers' involvement in the fiasco was being investigated.

"We need to ask to what extent has the integrity of the police department, and indeed the city of Tshwane, been compromised," he said at the time.

"It is a matter of common cause that this matter has caused anxiety within the entire country, and therefore any association with the said developments would have the potential to compromise the municipality."

Blue lights escort
The officers were arrested after they allegedly escorted Gupta family wedding guests from Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria to Sun City in the North West. The guests were on board a jet, chartered by the Gupta family, which landed at the military base.

They reportedly fitted blue lights, sirens and false number plates to their private vehicles to escort guests to the lavish event. 

Without revealing the charges the officers faced, Tleane said a probe would examine whether they violated municipal policy, which prohibits external work without the chief of police's permission.

"That policy also states that an employee may not engage in private work that is similar, or almost similar, to what their official work entails," he said.

Although the internal disciplinary process is on-going, criminal charges against the officers may have been dropped because of lack of evidence. National police spokesman Brigadier Phuti Setati previously declined to comment and said it was a matter for South African Police Service.