LEBOGANG SEALE
G AUTENG police are investigating six police officers for allegedly stealing most of the R1.1 million recovered after a gang robbed a Soweto bank.
The theft emerged after four suspects – including two women employees at Absa’s Jabulani branch – were arrested in June last year for allegedly stealing the R1.1m.
Yesterday, Kate Kekana and Portia Dioka were dejected and forlorn figures as they appeared in the Protea Magistrate’s Court again. The pair, who stopped working immediately after the theft, appeared with co-accused Sydney Ngalo and Leonard Moriti.
Detectives had first pounced on Ngalo, the alleged kingpin, who also helped transport the cash from the bank to a house in the township, about three days after the theft.
They later arrested Kekana and Dioka in Limpopo, then Moriti, who is Dioka’s husband, in Soweto.
The case was postponed to October 12.
During a short break, the women sat on the bench, where they were joined by relatives. They lamented that the denial of bail was “unfair” as it deprived them of seeing their children.
With the exception of Ngalo – released on R5 000 bail – the accused are being held at the Joburg Prison.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini confirmed yesterday that an investigation had been opened against six cops in connection with the stolen money. He could not say how long the probe would take.
Highly placed sources have told The Star that the police allegedly claimed, after the arrest of the four suspects, to have recovered only R280 000. The suspects, all attached to the Jabulani police station, allegedly shared the rest of the loot.
“That is the worst-kept secret. But nobody is talking about it openly because people are scared of victimisation,” said a source close to the police.
Three independent sources told The Star a police officer crucial to the investigation of the theft case was among those implicated.
But the officer at the centre of the allegations denied he or other officers had taken any of the stolen money.
Meanwhile, a relative of Ngalo has claimed that it was because of police corruption in the matter that the accused feared for his life. The relative attributed the mysterious murder of Ngalo’s younger brother last year to the fraud case.