DA’s Kohler Barnard denies leaking classified information
DA Member of Parliament Dianne Kohler Barnard has rejected claims that she disclosed classified police information as outrageous, defamatory, and baseless.
Her name was brought up at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.
KZN police head Nhlanhla Mkhwanzi testified that the disclosure affected the work of the SAPS Crime Intelligence Unit.
Mkhwanazi accused Kohler Barnard of breaking the law and fuelling malicious attacks on crime intelligence.
It concerns a DA statement released in February, in which she raised concerns about the unit's purchase of a R22 million property in Durban's Berea area.
She divulged that the purchase followed another questionable property deal in Pretoria that was under investigation.
"So what we see here is a person who has the legal obligation to keep the mouth shut and go to the joint standing committee and present and ventilate on this and hold the divisional commissioner accountable, but she does not. She goes public,” Mkhwanazi testified.
In a statement, Kohler Barnard denied that the information she released was classified, saying the purchase had already been widely reported in the media.
She said that for Mkhwanazi to suggest that she could somehow be a part of a criminal syndicate is absurd.
The commissioner said the attacks on Crime Intelligence ultimately landed at the Unit's head, Dumisani Khumalo.
Mkhwanazi on Thursday suggested that Khumalo was arrested earlier this year as part of concerted efforts to make sure work done in Gauteng to root out the criminal syndicates at the centre of his interference claims never reach finalisation.
He also accused National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams of leaking classified information and being behind a criminal complaint that led to Khumalo's arrest.
Adams has also denied the claims.
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