PRETORIA - The Madlanga Commission has begun communicating with James Stuart Scharnick to possibly appear at the inquiry.
Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo linked Scharnick, who has a long-standing criminal record, to suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya.
"Mr Scharnick reached out to us yesterday afternoon and we replied in five minutes. He has been in touch with our legal team and our investigators, as is the case with all members of the public and implicated parties in this case," he says.
Khumalo revealed at the Commission that a vehicle driven by Sibiya was registered under Scharnick.
READ| LIVESTREAM | Khumalo continues testimony at Madlanga Commission
He said that Scharnick has been linked to 34 cases in total, he was found guilty on 18, 11 were withdrawn and acquitted of five.
While Sharnick has denied all the allegations, criminologist Simon Howell has raised concerns over the revelations by Khumalo.
READ| EXCLUSIVE: Shadrack Sibiya’s acquaintance speaks to eNCA
Howell says the appointment of someone with a criminal past close to police leadership undermines public confidence and weakens the integrity of the SAPS.
He says this points to a breakdown of what is called the moral architecture of policing.
"When a person with multiple convictions is positioned in close proximity to leadership, it compromises both internal trust and public faith in the institutions. And the result of which is a further breakdown in creation of institutional fragility, ultimately, and I think SAPS is really in a position of having public trust that we've really eroded quite significantly," Howell says.
He says that policing legitimacy depends on formal and symbolic integrity.