Forensic fraud examiner Paul O'Sullivan defended himself against allegations.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan has revealed that he donated to ActionSA when it was formed, because he supported what Herman Mashaba was doing, but denied allegations of corruption coming from a party member, saying, “it is what it is.”
However, he did not disclose how much he donated to the party.
O’Sullivan made the comments while responding to questions from Patriotic Alliance (PA) MP Ashley Sauls.
He appeared at the Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Thursday.
Sauls referenced O’Sullivan’s book, “Stop Me If You Can,” saying that he explicitly calls only two people friends: Peter Hayne from the UK House of Lords and Herman Mashaba, president of the opposition party, ActionSA.
“Is Mashaba still your friend?” Sauls asked.
O’Sullivan laughed and replied, “It’s a very hard question to answer. Let’s say we’ve had words, but I think you can’t ditch a friendship of many, many years overnight.”
“I still consider him my friend, and I still consider his wife, Connie, my friend. I’m no longer his political friend, but probably still his personal friend.”
When asked if Mashaba shared the same view, O’Sullivan called allegations that the party sought to portray him as corrupt a “false narrative”.
“If somebody wants to paint a picture, and I point out that someone they support may be engaged in criminal conduct, the only way they can retaliate is to accuse me of criminal activity,” he said.
“I’ve heard people say I’m embroiled with drug cartels - what a lot of rubbish. When you make statements like that without any factual basis, you attract negativity. I accept that goes with the territory of fighting corruption.”
O’Sullivan added that while his methods may have “holes,” the outcomes speak for themselves: “If I look at the record, the success rate of people now facing or already facing the criminal justice system are in prison. I’m satisfied we won a lot more cases than we lost.”
The testimony follows accusations from ActionSA MP Dereleen James, who claimed O’Sullivan benefitted from funds from the Crime Intelligence Secret Services Account, also known as the Slush Fund.
However, O’Sullivan denied the claims, saying he never received money for public interest work.
James presented documents suggesting O’Sullivan received R100,000 from the fund in 2007 in connection with the Radovan Krejcir case.
O’Sullivan said the money was not from the Slush Fund but from the now-defunct Scorpions, as reimbursement for expenses he incurred while providing additional security for a witness and for using his aircraft on official duties.
He said the total expenditure exceeded R500,000, and he was reimbursed R100,000 from National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) funds.
“The honourable member is wrong when she says I lied about receiving money from the Slush Fund,” he previously said.
O’Sullivan added that one of the passengers on his aircraft was former NPA prosecutor Gerrie Nel.
He also criticised James for making distracting gestures while addressing him.
Meanwhile, on why he believes ActionSA would promote a narrative of corruption, O’Sullivan said, “Because there’s a narrative out there, and some people are quite happy to jump on the bandwagon.”
“I’m satisfied I’ve never received one cent from the Slush Fund.”
“I don’t believe my friend Herman has done that. By the way, when he formed ActionSA, I made donations to it simply because I liked what he was doing. But it is what it is.” He did not disclose the amount donated.
Mashaba served as mayor of Johannesburg from 2016 to 2019 under the Democratic Alliance (DA).
He resigned from both the DA and the mayoralty following Helen Zille’s re-election as chairperson of the DA’s federal council in 2019.
He founded ActionSA in 2020 after facing criticism over alleged xenophobic statements during his mayoral tenure and now serves as the party’s mayoral candidate.
The committee continues.
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