Three Durban-based police officers and a self-employed accomplice charged with extortion appeared at the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court.
The four were remanded in custody after their bail applications were denied, including by the Johannesburg High Court. Facts presented during the applications are that the accused, who posed as members of the Hawks, approached a Kyalami-based businessman in May and claimed that their superiors were demanding a R50-million payment from him to withhold a damning investigation on him.
Seemingly to avoid the investigation, the victim, who is said to have some lucrative tender with government, deposited R9 million into a trust account the accused gave him. Later on the same day, he reported the incident to the police. The accused were traced and two were arrested in Joburg on 4 July and the other two on 12 July in Durban. They will reappear in court on 23 September.
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