Tebogo Msimanga |
A 61-year-old former police Captain, Rodney Mpapela who was attached to the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in Mthatha was convicted by the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crime Court for charges of fraud.
On 20 February 2007, an application for trap money amounting to R4000 was made by the Hawks members for the purpose of conducting an investigation.Captain Yolisa Mgolondela said the operation was conducted and the entire trap money was recovered from the target and registered at the local police station. It was later booked out by the investigators.
“On 8 July 2011, the original case docket which necessitated the police action was allocated to Captain Mpapela and was handed the cash by the then unit commander.”Mgolondela added that on 10 March 2016, the case related to the cash in question was withdrawn by the state. “The unit commander handed over the exhibit to the Captain to return it to the Finance office but it never reached the destination. Mpapela was adamant that the cash in question was not with him.
The Hawks’ arrested Mpapela on 28 June 2021. He was found guilty of fraud on 30 September 2021 and the matter is remanded to 8 October 2021 for sentencing.
