Cape Town - The businessman at the centre of a corruption case involving former provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer believes he is being used as a tool to bring down the ex-top cop.
Mohamed Saleem Dawjee said this outside the Western Cape High Court on Friday, shortly after he appeared in the dock with Lamoer and three other police officers who have been criminally charged in the case.
“I’m an innocent man that’s been drawn in. They want to get rid of (Lamoer) so they drew me in,” the Plattekloof businessman said.
Dawjee also pointed to a man in a vehicle nearby, apparently a police officer who had been investigating him, and said the officer had been promoted after “sinking” him and his co-accused.
Earlier on Friday Dawjee took to the dock in the High Court along with Lamoer, former Stellenbosch police cluster commander Brigadier Darius van der Ross, the former provincial head of inspectorate Brigadier Kolindren Govender, and Govender’s wife, ex-Bellville station commander Brigadier Sharon Govender.
The police officers are accused of accepting bribes from Dawjee.
They were in court on Friday for a hearing to try to iron out details before the matter goes to trial.
During proceedings it emerged the only outstanding matter in the way of a trial starting was that Van Der Ross and the Govenders were still trying to get state-funded legal representation.
State prosecutor Billy Downer said a review of this would be heard on Thursday.
At a previous pre-trial hearing, defence advocate Johann Nortje said Van Der Ross and the Govenders had applied for State-funded legal representation, but suspended national police commissioner Riah Phiyega had turned this down last year in May without consulting the state attorney as she should have.
The trio was still trying to secure State-funded representation. On Friday the matter was postponed to May for another pre-trial hearing.
Lamoer, who was suspended early last year after being arrested, retired in December.
Weekend Argus