Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer has been suspended as Western Cape police commissioner, top cop Riah Phiyega confirmed on Tuesday.
The national police commissioner told MPs in the portfolio committee on police that Lamoer and his three co-accused – all senior police officials – had been suspended.
A departmental inquiry into their conduct is under way.
"Our HR portfolio is engaging with the appointment of independent investigators to assist us in this regard," said Phiyega.
If there was enough prima facie evidence against the four of them, they would face internal action, running concurrently with the court case.
Lamoer and three of his senior officers – Brigadiers Darius van der Ross, Sharon Govender, her husband, Colin Govender and Cape businessperson Salim Dawjee – handed themselves over at the Goodwood police station last Friday morning and appeared in the Goodwood Magistrate's Court shortly thereafter.
The 109 charges against them – including fraud, corruption, money laundering and defeating the ends of justice – follows a Hawks investigation into allegations that Lamoer and Dawjee had a corrupt relationship. Dawjee allegedly gave money and gifts to the four senior police officers.
They will appear again on June 12.
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