Uncovering the scandal: SAPS insider's role in altering Scharnick's criminal history

The SAPS KwaZulu-Natal have revealed that a rogue employee accessed their criminal record system and made adjustments that benefited Stuart James Scharnick, a controversial businessman.

The briefing session held at the SAPS' provincial headquarters on Braam Fischer Road was chaired by Major-General Anthony Gopaul, KZN's Acting Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Crime Detection.

Gopaul discussed criminal matters linked to Scharnick, who has opened cases, including one of defeating the ends of justice against the SAPS’ head of Crime Intelligence, Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, at the Pretoria Central police station.

Scharnick action came in response to submissions made by Khumalo at the Madlanga Commission, where he stated that Sharnick's criminal records indicated that he was linked to incidents of carjackings, car theft and had ties with criminal syndicates.

Khumalo also claimed that a Toyota double-cab bakkie driven by Sibiya, was registered in Scharnick’s name.

Scharnick has since disputed Khumalo's allegations; police in the province felt it was necessary for them to respond as most of the cases were tied to KwaZulu-Natal.

Gopal made known details about an audit that was conducted in January this year, which revealed that a certain SAPS employee had accessed a criminal record system on the afternoon of January 16.

Gopaul suggested that the reason Scharnick was allegedly so confident that there would be nothing on the system was because of the aforementioned incident.

He said police were shocked to discover that Scharnick's criminal records were deleted in the system by an employee in the CRCS (Criminal Records Systems Register) head office in Pretoria, but they ultimately retrieved the information via the backend system.

“Unfortunately, the person who deleted the records did not fully understand the auditing system; hence, the deleted records remained visible in the system’s back end,” said Gopaul.

He said that the entire forensic side of the system will investigate and forward its findings, after which the employee will be held accountable, and they were not sure whether the employee was prompted by someone, acted out of a lack of understanding, or did it intentionally.

“But when you look at the timelines, it suggests to us that there was something done to benefit this individual,” added Gopaul.

Gopaul also disclosed that the number of carjacking cases involving Scharnick was 29, not the 18 previously revealed by Khumalo at the commission.

Despite Scharnick’s claims that he has never been convicted of any hijackings, the number of cases linked to him has been updated.

Scharnick refuted General Khumalo's statement at the Madlanga Commission, where Khumalo told the commission that Scharnick had “a criminal history with multiple convictions.”

Khumalo alleged that Scharnick had appeared in more than 30 criminal cases, including 18 convictions and several withdrawals or acquittals.

“We have to start with the lies that he put on record, that I was convicted of 18 hijackings. I have not been convicted of one hijacking in my life,” said Scharnick.

“I have my records from the Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC), and if General Khumalo had any intelligence, as the head of intelligence, he would have picked up the phone and phoned the Local Criminal Record Centre, which keeps the records of all the cases.”

Scharnick told journalists outside the Pretoria Central police station on Wednesday that he had instructed his lawyers to pursue both criminal and civil action against Khumalo.

DAILY NEWS