Modack trial: Retired top cop Vearey denies receiving R3 million in bribes

CAPE TOWN- Retired top cop, Major General Jeremy Vearey has denied receiving more than R3 million in bribes from alleged underworld gang boss Nafiz Modack.

Modack and 14 co-accused face 122 charges for various crimes, including the murder of Vearey's colleague, Lieutenant Charl Kinnear outside his Bishop Lavis in September 2020.

Vearey's testimony in the Western Cape High Court centred around 25 counts of corruption Modack faces.

Modack alleges he paid Vearey and Kinnear, more than R3 million via a middleman Mohammed Hanware for the return of six firearms confiscated from his home in 2017.

Modack claims Hanware contacted him after the raid, saying Vearey and Kinnear were prepared to return the guns if they were paid.

Modack said he paid the money because he wanted to prove Vearey and Kinnear were corrupt.

Financial records presented in court by the Hawks show various payments were made to Hanware's wife, Advocate Caitlyn Bowen, but never to Vearey nor Kinnear.

The Hawks also confirmed the firearms were never returned to Modack.

Vearey told the court he instructed senior police officers to investigate the allegations levelled against him in 2018, before laying a charge of bribery against Modack.

He also denied Modack's allegation that he took bribes from other alleged underworld figures, including Jerome "Donkie" Booysen, Mark Lifman and Ralph Stanfield.

Vearey denied this, saying at the time Booysen, Lifman and Stanfield were his targets, and he had been part of various investigations to put them behind bars.

Police detective, Captain Franklin Stone, took the stand later in the week, saying he was part of an Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) team that transported co-accused Yannick Adonis to court in 2019.

At the time, Adonis was being held at Malmesbury Prison while on trial for murder in Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court.

Stone told the Adonis requested to meet AGU general Andre Lincoln to share information about gang-related crime on the Cape Flats in return for bail or a lighter sentence.

The captain told the court he was not aware voice messages Modack offering money for inside information were being sent to his State-issued phone.

Stone told the court the messages were deleted before he could hear them as other members of the AGU also had access to the phone.

Stone also admitted he was present when Adonis told Lincoln about Modack's plot to kill Kinnear in 2019.

Judge Robert Henney asked Stone why the AGU did nothing to prevent Adonis from going ahead with the attack, and allowed him to have a cellphone while in prison.

Stone told Henney he acted on instruction from Lincoln, who told Adonis to stop planning the attack.

It's the State's case, Adonis and his then-girlfriend Amaal Jantjies planned three botched attacks on Kinnear on behalf of Modack.

The State alleges Jantjies and Adonis also coerced AGU member Ashley Tabisher - who is another co-accused on trial - to share information about raids on Modack.

However, it's Jantjies and Adonis' version they were informants assisting in an AGU plot to arrest and kill Modack, on behalf of Lincoln and Kinnear.

The former couple allege they told Lincoln that Modack wanted to kill Kinnear and he instructed them to plan a botched grenade attack on Kinnear.

Lincoln's alleged plan was then to arrest Modack for the botched attack and when he resisted arrest, Tabisher was to take him out.

Attorney for Jantjies, Pauline Andrews told the court she would later argue that there was "more than meets the eye" related to AGU's dealings with Adonis and Jantjies.

Meanwhile, co-accused Zane Kilian failed in a second attempt to get released on bail.

Kilian faces 43 charges related to various crimes, including racketeering, unlawful interception of electronic communications and murder.

Evidence shows he pinged Kinnear more than 2000 times before and on the day of his murder.

High Court Judge Mark Sher found it was not in the interests of justice for Kilian to be released on bail.

Since his arrest, Kilian has maintained his innocence, saying he thought he was pinging Kinnear for debt collection on behalf of Modack.

Before dismissing Kilian's application for bail, Judge Sher said that given the seriousness of the charges and the lengthy sentences he faces if convicted, it would not be in the interests of justice for Kilian to be released on bail.

She added that if Kilian were to be granted bail, there would be a likelihood he would seek to leave the country and evade justice.