'Documents were classified to hide SAPS criminality'
The commission of inquiry into state capture has heard how the classification of documents by the police’s crime intelligence unit was used to hide corruption and loot the secret service account.
Hawks senior investigator Kobus Roelofse, who served in the police force since the 1980s, appeared before the commission on Tuesday.
Roelofse's testimony implicates 53 people including senior police officials, some of which will not be named until the commission’s chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, gives the green light.
Evidence leader Advocate Verushka September told the commission that the names are still sensitive and a ruling on releasing them publicly is needed only at a later stage.
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Roelofse will only be using code names to refer to some of the implicated, which only 49 have received notices and responded.
"The purpose of my evidence is to show the problem that arises from classification or overclassification of documents and the failure to understand that you cannot use classification to hide criminality.
"What I am saying is that documents were classified and the non-declassification of those documents allowed for the non-prosecution of members involved in these unlawful transactions and classification was used as an excuse to hamper the investigations. In most instances, the people involved in the unlawful transactions are the ones who classified the documents," said Roelofse.