Testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee, former NPA advocate Michael Mashuga alleged that controversial investigator Paul O’Sullivan infiltrated the police watchdog and accessed confidential credit information without lawful authority.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The only way to stop forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan from accessing sensitive personal information, including people’s credit records, is for senior officers to stop being corrupt, former senior National Prosecuting Authority advocate Michael Mashuga told Parliament.
Mashuga was testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Wednesday.
The committee is investigating allegations of criminality and corruption within the criminal justice system raised by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Mashuga accused O’Sullivan of infiltrating the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and accessing sensitive personal information without authorisation.
“See how easily he accessed credit information records of people and didn’t see that as wrong.
He said, ‘No, I am allowed to do that.’ No lawful reason that he gave,” Mashuga said.
He was responding to questions from Patriotic Alliance (PA) MP Ashley Sauls about how O’Sullivan was able to access individuals’ credit information.
The issue arose after O’Sullivan revealed that uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) MP David Mandla Skosana allegedly owed money to a bank.
His comments raised concerns among South Africans that a bank may have unlawfully shared confidential client information.
O’Sullivan did not disclose which bank was involved or the amount allegedly owed.
Last week week on Thursday, O’Sullivan walked out of the ad hoc committee without the permission of chairperson Soviet Lekganyane.
Several MPs protested as Skosana followed him outside in what appeared to be an attempt to confront him.
As Skosana shouted that O’Sullivan was running away from the committee, O’Sullivan replied that Skosana should pay the money he allegedly owed to the bank.
“He is running away and the chairperson … No, no, this is unbecoming,” Skosana was heard saying.
As he entered his vehicle, O’Sullivan responded, “Here is the problem - you are no longer in Parliament. You are standing outside Parliament. And you are lying through your teeth. You should just go and pay the debt that you owe to the bank.”
Sauls suggested that O’Sullivan’s access to private information gave him a perceived “God status”.
“Yes, and I mean, he’s everything that you can think of,” Mashuga said.
“In one of his statements - I don’t know whether it was with Phahlane or me - he annexed statement SNA1, where he claims to be an engineer.”
Mashuga said he later learned O’Sullivan did not have qualifications in many of the areas in which he claimed expertise.
“He even said he’s a professional engineer. I was asking myself, how is he?” Mashuga said.
Sauls asked whether the only way to remove O’Sullivan’s “fake God status” was for generals and senior officials to stop being corrupt.
“I think you are accurate on that one,” Mashuga replied.
Mashuga, who left the NPA in 2024, also accused O’Sullivan and his former assistant, Sarah Jane Trent, of infiltrating IPID.
In 2017, Mashuga prosecuted O’Sullivan and Trent on multiple charges, including fraud and extortion.
He alleged he had evidence of significant interference by the pair, which contributed to delays in the case.
At the time, O’Sullivan, Trent and IPID officers Mandlakayise Mahlangu and Temane Binang were charged with fraud, intimidation, extortion and contravening the IPID Act.
Former senior NPA advocate Michael Mashuga told Parliament that only rooting out corruption among senior law enforcement officials would prevent forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan from accessing sensitive personal information.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The charges stemmed from an investigation into former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane.
The matter was later struck off the roll due to multiple delays.
Mashuga alleged that O’Sullivan and Trent impersonated IPID officers and obtained statements from witnesses, while Mahlangu and Binang did nothing to stop them.
During that period, Mashuga said he faced sustained interference, insults and accusations of being “captured”.
“O’Sullivan went for interviews at different radio stations - Radio 702, Power FM - and various articles were written about me.”
“Ultimately, my name even appeared in a book by Jacques Pauw, where allegations of state capture and corruption were made against me simply because I had decided to prosecute Mr Paul O’Sullivan and other suspects,” he said.
Mashuga maintained that he had sufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution.
“There’s always been this question whether Mr Paul O’Sullivan and Trent were entitled to involve themselves in this investigation, and whether IPID had abdicated its statutory powers, duties and functions to a private person,” he said.
He further alleged that during the IPID investigation into Phahlane, O’Sullivan repeatedly taunted him via email and threatened to send Phahlane to prison.
Mashuga said the IPID investigation at the time was not independent because it had been infiltrated and led by O’Sullivan and Trent.
He said the two were not only biased and not independent but also had a motive to implicate Phahlane falsely.
He told the committee it was widely known that some IPID members had close relationships with O’Sullivan and Trent.
Meanwhile, O’Sullivan is expected to return to the committee on Thursday to complete his testimony after leaving last week, saying he needed to catch a flight.
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