Shock as metro cop appears in court instead of reporting for duty

Tshwane municipality says it's shocked that one of its cop has appeared in court on KPMG money-laundering charges.

Sgt Lebogang Sigubudu and co-accused Trevor Machimana were the latest suspects to be nabbed in the case and are accused of aiding former KPMG employee Fidelis Moema move the illicit money through their companies. Moema is accused of stealing R16.5m from the company.

The trio appeared in the Palm Ridge magistrate's court on Thursday and will spend the night in custody as their bail judgment was expected to be delivered on Friday.

Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) spokesperson, Sen-Supt Isaac Mahamba said Sigubudu was meant to report to work on Thursday night but they were shocked to see him appearing in court as one of the new accused in the R16.5m fraud case allegedly orchestrated by Moema.

"As the department we were not aware of this matter until he appeared in court today as he was supposed to report for duty this evening [Thusday].

“When we became aware, we immediately appointed an investigating officer internally to open a case docket and follow up on the matter to obtain facts,” said Mahamba. 

He said although the KPMG case is a private matter, as a department they were worried about the allegations levelled against Sigubudu. 

“We will study the docket and determine the way forward and we don't rule out the possibility of serving him with notice to explain to us why he should not be suspended while the matter is being investigated by SAPS and TMPD internally,” Mahamba said. 

Sigubudu started to work for the city in 2009 as a traffic warden "temporary and was appointed permanently in 2011,” said Mahamba. 

Chief of police commissioner Yolanda Faro said: “As the department, we have zero-tolerance on corruption and we will deal decisively with anyone who brings the name of the department into disrepute.”