Ballsy station commander sparked Lamoer probe

Cape Town - A police station commander’s determination to root out what she saw as corruption among officers working closely together resulted in a Western Cape top cop ending up in the dock with other senior officers on Friday.

Mohamed Saleem Dawjee, the businessman who allegedly bribed Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer and other officers, says Colonel Hansia Asaram, awarded the Station Commander of the Year in 2013, has a vendetta against him because, according to a 2014 Eyewitness News report, he complained about her poor service delivery.

But a 120-page indictment detailing Dawjee’s dodgy dealings with Lamoer and the other accused officers, says that Hansraj became aware of some of the “gratifications” and felt it amounted to a pattern of corruption.

An investigation following her complaint shows the alleged pattern of corruption by the businessman and the senior officers.

According to a Sunday Times report in November 2013, one of Lamoer’s co-accused, Darian van der Ross, tried to intimidate Hansraj after she fired Dawjee from community policing forums in the northern suburbs. Hansraj “stood up to” Van der Ross and soon after investigations began.

Lamoer and his five co-accused are out on R5 000 bail each after appearing in the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court for alleged corruption amounting to about R1.63m.