'Spy cop' believes search warrant was for ulterior purposes

Cape Town – Western Cape crime intelligence police officer Paul Scheepers believes that a search warrant used to seize equipment from his police office and private business in May was for "ulterior purposes".

Scheepers gave his provincial commander sensitive information from three informers on a high-ranking police officer, according to court documents.

He told his commander that the officer "regularly attends meetings with very well-known drug-lords and criminal gang bosses in the Western Cape", discussed "undermining rival gangs and the way of ensuring distribution of drugs", and, on several occasions "received huge amounts of money for the exchange and delivery of drugs".

He believed the timing of the raid almost two months later was not coincidental.

Electronic equipment seized

The police captain has applied to the Western Cape High Court to have this search warrant set aside as unlawful and invalid.

By agreement between the parties on Friday, the civil application will be heard on March 14 next year.

All electronic equipment (including computers, flash-drives, hard-drives) and documents were seized.

He said in his founding affidavit that his own private detective agency, Eagle Eye Solution Technologies, was "completely destroyed" as a result and his employees had to be retrenched.

He wanted the provincial police commissioner to return the seized items and any copies made.

The requested order was also for the commissioner not to use anything seized as evidence in legal proceedings.

Scheepers has been accused of being used as a spy by the Western Cape government.

Provincial govt suspects SSA surveillance

Suspended since his arrest, he faces 55 criminal charges in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court.

These include fraud, tender fraud, violating the Electronic Communications Act, perjury and defeating the ends of justice.

The ANC alleges that Premier Helen Zille hired Scheepers to spy on the ANC, and laid charges at the Cape Town Central police station against her for "employing a private covert intelligence investigator to execute illegal communications surveillance work on state land and property", News24 reported.

Zille's spokesperson Michael Mpofu, however, said the provincial Cabinet had strong reasons to believe they were under surveillance from the State Security Agency.

"Written assurance that no spying was taking place could not be obtained from the SSA, despite repeated requests. On this basis, the cabinet resolved that software be acquired to debug their cellphones."

Eagle Eye Technology was employed by the provincial government to debug cellphones in a contract valued at R115 800, a report on the provincial government website confirmed.

On his business, Scheepers said his private work did not interfere with his daily tasks as a police officer and that he had applied for the relevant permission, including for 2014/15.

But an email from a Colonel Zethu of the provincial anti-corruption unit stated that his applications to do private work between 2012 and 2014 were not approved. Zethu also said an application for 2014/15 was never submitted.

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.