DA’s Kohler Barnard denies leaking classified information
DA Member of Parliament Dianne Kohler Barnard has rejected claims that she disclosed classified police information as outrageous, defamatory, and baseless.
KZN police head Nhlanhla Mkhwanzi testified that the disclosure affected the work of the SAPS Crime Intelligence Unit.
Mkhwanazi accused Kohler Barnard of breaking the law and fuelling malicious attacks on crime intelligence.
It has to do with a DA statement released in February where she raised concerns about the purchase of a R22 million property by the unit in Durban's Berea area.
She divulged that the purchase followed another questionable property deal in Pretoria that was under investigation.
"So what we see here is a person who has the legal obligation to keep the mouth shut and go to the joint standing committee and present and ventilate on this and hold the divisional commissioner accountable, but she does not. She goes public,” Mkhwanazi testified.
READ: Mkhwanazi implicates MPs Fadiel Adams, Kohler Barnard at commission
In a statement, Kohler Barnard denied that the information she released was
classified, saying the purchase were widely reported in the media already.
She said for Mkhwanazi to suggest that she could somehow be apart of a criminal
syndicate, is absurd.
The commissioner said the attacks on Crime Intelligence ultimately landed at
the Units head, Dumisani Khumalo.
Mkhwanazi on Thursday suggested that Khumalo was arrested earlier this year as
part of concerted efforts to make sure work done in Gauteng to root out the
criminal syndicates at the centre of his interference claims never reach
finalisation.
He also accused National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams of leaking classified
information and being behind a criminal complaint that led to Khumalo's arrest.
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