Madlanga Inquiry hears that accused in Armand Swart murder planned to bribe officials to get bail

A member of Gauteng’s organised crime unit said he was shocked to learn that those implicated in the murder of Vereeniging engineer, Armand Swart, were planning to bribe officials in order to get bail.

Witness A testified partially in-camera before the Madlanga Commission on Monday, with his voice broadcast but his face concealed.

He formed part of the team investigating the murder of Swart, who was shot dozens of times with a rifle while driving into his company premises in April last year.

Swart was killed in a case of mistaken identity after his company, Q-Tech, filed a whistleblower report about massive price inflation in relation to a Transnet freight rail tender.

According to Witness A, the head of organised crime in the country, Richard Shibiri, requested the team investigating Swart's murder to brief him on the case last year. 

When the team arrived, Shibiri allegedly cautioned them on the sensitivity of the case, claiming they would receive major push-back from police as one of their own, Warrant Officer Michael Pule Tau, was arrested in connection with Swart’s murder. 

But Witness A said the most shocking revelation was when Shibiri alleged that he was aware of "envelopes" being offered to allow the accused to be granted bail.

"Even though he didn’t say money, but he did say there were three envelopes flying around to make sure that those people get bail. He said one envelope would be for the investigating officers, the other one would be for the magistrate and the last one would be for the prosecutor."

He claims that when questioned about what they should do about the allegations of bribes for bail, Shibiri said an inquiry should be opened, but didn’t bother opening one, even though he made the team aware of the allegations.