SENIOR COPS NOT OFF THE HOOK – POLICE CHIEF

MBABANE – National Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula has clarified that the issue of the fingerprints, whereby senior officers were also implicated, has not been concluded.

In response to a headline published in the Times Sunday ‘DPP let senior cops free’, Magagula explained that the case pertaining to the senior officers ‘has not been shelved and forgotten but was very much alive and the docket was with the Director of Public Prosecution for his attention and further directives’.

The commissioner, in the initial interview, had stated that the DPP’s office had made it known that it would first deal with the junior officers and later move on to the senior cops who are alleged to have had a hand in the fingerprints scandal that is now a matter being dealt with by the courts.
While not disputing the actual reporting of the case, the commissioner said the headline gave a wrong and unfortunate impression, purporting that he was apportioning blame to the DPPs office on the matter of the senior police officers yet this was not the case.

He extended his sincere apologies to the DPP’s office regarding the confusion that may have been created by the headline of the article.
Magagula further mentioned that the issue of the senior police was well known as it was unravelled by the investigations into the case, commissioned by his office.
“It is not the first time that I admit to knowing them, more so because the investigations were ordered by me. We can’t though comment much about their identities or even say they are part of the police executive. Reference to all material times has always been about ‘senior officers’, not their positioning in the organisation’s command structure,” Magagula said in a separate interview.

He acknowledged that some records of the deleted fingerprints had been reconstructed and restored though the challenge was how the matter of those who benefitted would be handled given its complexity and allied ramifications.
“This is not meant to imply that those whose fingerprints were cleared should not fool themselves because the long arm of the law will catch up with them. No, that is not what we meant,” he added.
On another matter, the commissioner admitted a mix-up when dealing with the incident of a drink-driver whose car was shot at by police officers.

“In this matter, while admitting the mix-up, we did point out that it could have been avoided altogether had the driver heeded to the police instructions to stop.

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