Hawks boss Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya briefed the media on Monday on the crime-fighting outfit’s successes.
Lebeya said 203 people were arrested for fraud, 48 for money laundering, and 72 on drug and endangered species charges.
“The remaining 288 suspects were arrested for the other 17 types of national priority crimes,” Lebeya said.
Coinciding with the arrests, the Hawks also seized various objects, including precious metals, diamonds, endangered species, vehicles, cash, firearms, ammunition, counterfeit goods, explosives and electronic devices worth R6 112 768 985, Lebeya said.
During the same period, but not necessarily linked to the arrests, the Hawks also secured a number of convictions and sentences in cases that they had investigated.
Lebeya said 229 people had been convicted and sentenced.
“Sixteen of the 229 convicts were sentenced for money laundering.”
Successful prosecutions
Highlighting some of the successfully prosecuted cases between April and June, Lebeya referenced 30 matters.
In May, Warrant Officer Dotrefes Demetrius Visagie, 54, a detective at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria, was sentenced after being found guilty of four counts of corruption.
While investigating a fraud case, Visagie demanded a bribe from a suspect in return for not arresting her and withdrawing the case.
“The matter was reported to the Hawks Pretoria Serious Corruption Investigation for investigation,” Lebeya said.
In August 2020, Visagie was caught in the act of asking for the bribe money.
He was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment.
In another case, seven victims of trafficking were rescued and nine people arrested. Two life sentences were secured in the matter.
Lebeya said: Trafficking in persons is a modern-day slavery and a crime against humanity. South Africa has not been spared this twin pandemic of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.
The Hawks also managed to secure nine convictions for the murders of eight police officers. A total of nine life sentences were also handed down in the various murder cases.
Commercial crime arrests
On white-collar crimes, Lebeya referenced a R420 million tender fraud matter in the Northern Cape.
In May, the former Northern Cape head of Department for Roads and Public Works, Patience Mokhali ,65, A Director of Babereki Consulting Engineers Tshegolekae Motaung, 59,and former MEC of Transport, Roads and Public Works, in the Northern Cape, John Block, 55, were arrested.
Lebeya said: “They are charged with contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), fraud, corruption and money laundering.”
The tender was related to the building of a new mental health facility in Kimberley in 2003.
“It was discovered that the company that was appointed did not have the capacity to render the service and the contract was terminated whilst money was already paid,” Lebeya said.
“The work on the project has since been halted, leaving the facility incomplete and unusable, and at a considerable cost to the Department of Health. Officials did not follow normal procurement procedures when appointing the consultant,” he added.