Pretoria court sentences top cop to 10 years
Chief financial officer of crime intelligence, major general Solomon Lazaraus was convicted of corruption crimes on Wednesday.
The Pretoria regional court has sentenced former chief financial officer of crime intelligence, major general Solomon Lazaraus, to 10 years in prison on corruption charges.
This is after Lazarus was arrested in 2012 in Pretoria on fraudulent purchase of cars for his family on his department’s payroll.
He was responsible for the secret service account (SSA) for the crime intelligence police department
On Wednesday, he was convicted of corruption valued at over R200 000.
Investigating Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Twala said their investigations found that Lazarus was involved in obtaining motor vehicles for crime intelligence from Pretoria-based service provider, Atlantis Motors, and unlawfully used his involvement to benefit himself and some of his family members.
“Lazarus then derived benefit from 2006 to December 2011, from money which belonged to the state for the purchase of the vehicles.”
The conviction was based on the following gratifications:
– Purchase of his daughter’s Kia Picanto – R55 000.
– Purchase of a Honda CBR for his son for R27 432.
– The payment of a shortfall of R116 313; for the purchasing of a Nissan Murano 3.5I v6 4X4 CVT vehicle for himself;
– Purchase of a Honda ATV April 2009 to the value of R39 193 for himself.
All of the benefits were valued at a total of R237 939.
“Magistrate Adriaan Bekker said corruption of police officers could not be tolerated. ID head advocate Hermione Cronje has also welcomed the sentence,” Twala said.
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
