News24 reports that bedevilled Crime Intelligence (CI) boss Peter Jacobs has managed to stay a fraught disciplinary process – underscored by dramatic claims of criminality and espionage – that could see him axed.
An eleventh-hour court challenge, just hours before the culmination of an expeditiously-held hearing, bought Jacobs and five other high-ranking officers under his command a brief reprieve. They are accused of misconduct over allegedly "unlawfully" tapping into CI’s secret fund to purchase Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE). The top cop claims that the charges are part of a plot to have him fired for pushing against graft and corruption at CI. The findings of the week-long hearing, which was to have decided on the guilt of the officers and their fate, were to have been handed down on Thursday, but the matter has now been deferred to the Labour Court. According to a letter from the Office of the State Attorney, which was sent to the lawyers acting for the six on Wednesday, the disciplinary hearing will be effectively suspended while the court action runs its course. The matter is expected to go before court in the first week of March. Acting on the preliminary findings of an investigation spearheaded by the Inspector-General of Intelligence into alleged "irregularities" in the use of the secret fund, the national commissioner suspended the six in December.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jeff Wicks at News24
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