Claims that anti-corruption activist Paul O’Sullivan was working as a foreign intelligence agent have resurfaced after former Gauteng Hawks head Major-General Prince Mokotedi made explosive allegations about his activities.
Mokotedi claimed this week that he and members of South Africa’s intelligence community had established in 2017 that O’Sullivan was working for foreign intelligence agencies.
The claims are contained in veteran investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika’s Unpopular Opinion podcast, which is scheduled to air on Saturday, 22 August at 6pm.
O’Sullivan has strongly denied the allegations.
Prince Mokotedi Claims O’Sullivan Was Foreign Intelligence Agent
Mokotedi accused O’Sullivan of operating as a foreign intelligence agent while presenting himself as an anti-corruption activist.
“We succeeded in proving that he is working for foreign intelligence agencies. The aim is to capture crime intelligence and the State Security Agency (SSA),” Mokotedi said.
He claimed O’Sullivan’s anti-corruption activities were being used as a cover to gain access to law enforcement and security structures.
“His major assignment from his handlers is not about corruption; it is about identifying sleeper cells of radical Islamic movements in the country. His anti-corruption is a cover which gives him access to our law enforcement and security services,” he said.
The allegations are not new. Claims linking O’Sullivan to espionage were previously raised before Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi concerning political interference in the criminal justice system.
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O’Sullivan told the committee that he initially came to South Africa as a tourist.
He denied being a spy but acknowledged that he had been involved with the British Army and military intelligence, including work relating to counterterrorism and Irish terrorism involving the Irish Republican Army.
Mokotedi Claims O’Sullivan Offered To Become Double Agent
Mokotedi said O’Sullivan, through his lawyer Barry Roux SC, approached him at the South African Police Service provincial offices in Parktown, Johannesburg, in July 2016.
According to Mokotedi, O’Sullivan offered to revoke his South African citizenship and cooperate with police in exchange for the criminal charges against him being withdrawn.
Documents seen by the Mail & Guardian reportedly show that O’Sullivan appeared in court on 26 and 27 January 2017 on charges including extortion, fraud, intimidation, possession of three passports and kidnapping.
Other matters, including allegations involving fraud relating to a pilot licence, extortion, espionage and money laundering, were either under investigation or had been handed to the National Prosecuting Authority.
Mokotedi said he later met O’Sullivan in Cape Town in September 2017 alongside Major-General Zamile Kulele, then head of Crime Intelligence in Gauteng, Major-General Mzwandile Tiyo and State Security Agency agents.
According to Mokotedi, O’Sullivan volunteered to work as a spy for South African authorities.
“He admitted that he was a spy. It’s on record. He told us that he was with MI6, the British intelligence and he was still active,” Mokotedi said.
He claimed the plan was for O’Sullivan to become a double agent so that his alleged foreign intelligence networks could be investigated.
“We told him that we needed to register him as our spy, which would turn him into a double agent. He was fine with it,” Mokotedi said.
O’Sullivan Denies Meeting Mokotedi And Spy Claims
O’Sullivan rejected the allegations and denied ever meeting Mokotedi.
He described the claims as “fictional” and accused the former Hawks boss of bringing what he called “fake cases” against him.
“This is again the fictional work of a criminal by the name of Prince Mokotedi, who belongs in prison,” O’Sullivan said.
He maintained that he fought the cases brought against him and said he was either found not guilty or the matters were dismissed.
O’Sullivan also denied having met Mokotedi in Cape Town.
“Not once in my life. Again, this is the fictional work of the arch-criminal Mr Prince Mokotedi, who belongs in prison,” he said.
He further rejected any suggestion that he worked for foreign intelligence agencies.
Mokotedi claimed that O’Sullivan was required to report assignments allegedly received from foreign intelligence agencies as part of the proposed double-agent arrangement.
He said O’Sullivan later forwarded an email concerning an alleged request from the CIA to establish whether a person believed to have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay could be in South Africa.
“He forwarded me an email from the Joint Operations Committee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wanting to know if a particular person who was supposed to be imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay could be in South Africa. We now established that he was a spy,” Mokotedi claimed.
Mokotedi also referred to an email dated 17 February 2018 in which O’Sullivan allegedly requested permission to search a plane.
The email reportedly contained information about the aircraft, including a reference to its tracking being disabled in December 2017.
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O’Sullivan has vehemently denied the allegations linking him to foreign intelligence agencies and disputed Mokotedi’s account of their alleged meetings and interactions.
Mokotedi, meanwhile, has stood by his claims and said O’Sullivan’s public image as an anti-corruption activist was linked to his earlier involvement in matters involving former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
