Robert McBride accused of stealing incriminating USB stick from Hawks
2015-03-15 15:33
Abram Mashego, City Press
Johannesburg - Robert McBride is now the
subject of a criminal investigation – over an allegation that he stole a memory
stick containing evidence that could implicate himself as well as Hawks bosses
Anwa Dramat and Shadrack Sibiya in unspecified “wrongdoing”.
City Press has
learnt the Hawks are now investigating a case of defeating the ends of justice
against the head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID)
after he personally went to the office of suspended Gauteng Hawks head Shadrack
Sibiya to take possession of the memory stick that was kept in the walk-in
safe.
A senior Hawks officer told City Press on
Saturday they were also investigating the relationship between McBride and
Sibiya following allegations they received that Sibiya helped McBride evade
arrest and a blood test after he allegedly drove drunk and crashed his car
after a Christmas party in 2006.
Neither McBride nor Sibiya were available for
comment on this allegation on Saturday.
McBride, however, is hitting back and is
investigating how acting Hawks head Mthandazo Ntlemeza came to be in possession
of the IPID docket into the illegal rendition of five Zimbabweans. He is
seeking legal advice on what charges to lay against Ntlemeza.
On Thursday night, McBride filed an urgent
application at the North Gauteng High Court in which he asked for an interdict
against Police Minister Nathi Nhleko suspending him.
Nhleko had sent him a letter on Wednesday
giving him notice of his intention to suspend him.
In his affidavit in court papers, McBride
said he met Nhleko and Ntlemeza in Cape Town in February and was told he had
been accused of “raiding” Gauteng Hawks provincial headquarters.
'Bugging
device'
Two senior sources, one from the Hawks and another
from IPID, told City Press the criminal investigation to “nail” McBride was
still in its early stages.
“There is an investigation that focuses on
whether McBride stole the memory stick, which we believe contained
incriminating evidence implicating Dramat, Sibiya and himself,” said the senior
Hawks source.
The device has been handed to the State
Security Agency for analysis.
However, in another affidavit, Sibiya says
two colonels from the Crime Intelligence Unit arrived at his offices in
Parktown asking for the device because it belonged to their then suspended
boss, Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli, who wanted it back.
Sibiya, who was also suspended at the time,
then asked McBride to collect it and examine its contents “to see if it was not
a bugging device that was installed unlawfully to monitor my communications”.
The Hawks investigation against McBride
relies on an affidavit by Sibiya’s chief administration clerk, Pearl Angel
Pomuser, which says McBride and two other men arrived at the provincial
headquarters and demanded the device.
McBride allegedly threatened Pomuser with
criminal charges if she did not comply, and he was then given the “Data 6 line
box” device.
In his letter to Pomuser, McBride said IPID
was “investigating a case of systematic corruption” and needed to examine it.
Criminal
charges
Last week, City Press reported that McBride
faced suspension for allegedly changing the findings of a report into the roles
Dramat and Sibiya played in the renditions. The differences between the draft
report that implicates the two and the final version that clears them is under
way by law firm Werksmans Attorneys.
The senior Hawks officer said that if McBride
were found to have played a role in altering the report, he would face additional
criminal charges of defeating the ends of justice.
A source within the Sandton law firm told
City Press they were still analysing the reports and had asked Nhleko for
another two weeks to complete their investigation, which was initially due on
Friday.
“Our mandate has been extended to a month,”
the source said.
In his notice of intention to suspend
McBride, Nhleko accuses McBride of deliberately misleading Dramat and Sibiya by
saying they had been cleared of their role in the renditions when they had not.
McBride is also accused of not informing
Nhleko that there were two reports and of undermining the minister by writing
to the parliamentary portfolio committee on police two weeks ago to request a
special sitting to explain the differences in the reports.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani
Mulaudzi declined to comment on Saturday, referring questions to police
ministry spokesperson Musa Zondi.
Zondi confirmed Nhleko had asked McBride “in
the letter whether taking the device could not be construed as tampering with
evidence”.
In 2011, McBride was sentenced to two years
in prison for drunken driving and an effective three years for trying to defeat
the ends of justice.
He successfully appealed his conviction on
both counts in 2013.
