PRETORIA - Former Hawks national head Godfrey Lebeya has denied ordering the temporary transfer of Warrant Officer Karl Sander following a serious complaint against the officer.
Lebeya was giving evidence before the Commission on Wednesday when he rejected claims that he had approved Sander’s temporary deployment to the supply chain management department.
The claim was previously made by former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Leseja Senona, who told the Commission in June that Major-General Surajbali had instructed him to “temporarily place the member at another post pending investigation.”
Senona said the instruction had come from Lebeya.
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However, Lebeya strongly disputed this version of events.
“I did not, commissioners. I was not aware of the temporary placement,” Lebeya said.
He told the Commission that he only became aware that Sander had been temporarily placed elsewhere after receiving correspondence from the Commission during Senona’s testimony.
Senona has yet to provide the Commission with documentary evidence showing that Lebeya instructed him to move Sander to another post.
Sander previously told the Commission that he believed he had been wrongly implicated in the cocaine theft scandal because he was closing in on drug traffickers.
His testimony placed his actions in the broader context of the investigation into the alleged theft of cocaine from police custody.
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