Arrested 'Captain KGB' appears in court
18 January 2018
Pretoria - Crime Intelligence (CI) officer Morris "Captain KGB" Tshabalala, a convicted criminal, pitched up to see his probation officer in a Crime Intelligence vehicle, despite claiming he is unemployed, the Commercial Crimes Court heard on Thursday.
News24 can now reveal that the CI officer with ties to former national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, who was arrested by Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) officials on Tuesday at the Department of Correctional Services in Tshwane, is Morris "Captain KGB" Tshabalala.
Tshabalala appeared in court on five charges related to fraud, theft and corruption after he allegedly defrauded the CI’s secret service account of over R500 000.
"In the charge sheet, he says he is unemployed, but he pitched up in a Crime Intelligence vehicle to see his probation officer," State prosecutor Chris Smith told the court.
Tshabalala’s advocate, whose name could not be obtained by News24, contradicted his client's claims of unemployment, saying that this matter should be handled with caution as the court was dealing with an individual involved with the security affairs of the country.
Possible links to airport heist
According to an affidavit seen by News24, Tshabalala made two requests for blinds and curtains for safe houses in Pretoria, which were submitted by Captain KGB and authorised by a major general, to the tune of R563 005. The sum was paid out in cash.
Tshabalala was convicted in 1996 for armed robbery, but never reported for his prison sentence, going on the run whilst still working for CI as a fugitive until he was rearrested in 2013.
He then spent two years in prison before being released on parole, and allegedly re-employed or re-absorbed into CI.
IPID said that Phahlane was involved in the re-employment of Tshabalala.
Smith asked for a postponement to determine Tshabalala's employment status and to ascertain whether he has links to the multi-million OR Tambo heist in 2017.
"Does he work for CI or not? Is he protected by CI or not?" Smith asked.
The State told News24 at the time of the heist that R20.7m worth of banknotes from Standard Bank were stolen at the airport on March 7, 2017. However, some reports hint that it could have been as much as R200m.
At the time, News24 reported that, according to Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), a bakkie marked as a police vehicle and a white vehicle drove, with sirens and flashing blue lights, into a security entrance of the airport to steal the money.
The matter has been postponed to Friday for a formal bail application.
