Former acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has been granted bail of R20 000.

He appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes court on Friday, following his arrest earlier in the morning on new charges stemming from an Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) investigation into an R86-million blue lights tender.

Phahlane's lawyer argued that the arrest of his client was nothing but "a show of the media".

"Your worship if you take a look, the media are here in numbers. I submit that this is the modus operandi of IPID; this is a set up," Piet Du Plessis argued.

Phahlane was accompanied by Major General Ravichandran Pillay the head of South African Police Service supply chain management, who was also arrested on Friday morning. 

Pillay is facing charges relating to a 2016 tender awarded to Instrumentation Traffic Law Enforcement, owned by millionaire Vimpie Manthatha, News 24 earlier reported. Pillay, who was also granted R20 000 bail, and Phahlane will return to court on March 29.