NPA undeterred by Mdluli’s mysterious illness in R69m fraud case
The unknown illness of convicted former South African Police Service (SAPS) crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli won’t deter the R69-million fraud and corruption case against him.
This was the assertion made by the state on Monday, as an ill Mdluli once again could not attend his court matter at the Pretoria commercial crimes court over the alleged four-year plundering of a secret SAPS intelligence fund.
Mdluli, former crime intelligence manager Heine Barnard, and former senior officer Solomon Lazarus face a combined 19 counts of corruption, fraud, contravention of the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act, theft and defeating the ends of justice.
First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
2020 has been a tumultuous year for the SAPS. At least 20 rotten cops, many at the apex of the service, have been arrested, charged and dismissed for fraud and corruption amounting to hundreds of millions of rand.
Five years ago this colonic irrigation of senior ranks in law enforcement would have been unlikely if not unthinkable unless forced by an order of the court.
The arrests come after years of dogged investigation, often under life-threatening and career-limiting conditions by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and propelled by a renewed vigour within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).