A KwaZulu-Natal police officer is under investigation following findings that early in January, he accessed the police system and cleared the criminal record of Shadrack Sibiya’s associate James Stuart Scharnick.
This was revealed by iLembe district police commissioner Maj-Gen Anthony Gopaul during a briefing on criminal cases linked to Scharnick.
Gopaul said the changes by the employee were traceable in the system’s backend logs.
“Mr Scharnick claims he has been cleared and does not have a criminal record. However, when we examined the criminal record system in January this year, we conducted an audit of his information. During this preliminary investigation, on 16 January at 4.58pm, a South African Police Service employee accessed the criminal record system and made adjustments in Mr Scharnick’s favour. That is why Mr Shanek is so confident in saying there is nothing on the system.
“Unfortunately, the employee did not fully understand the auditing functions on the backend of the system. The transactions that were deleted still reflect and remain visible in the audit trail,” he said.
Gopaul said a forensic investigation into the system will continue to bring this evidence forward and hold the employee accountable.
“At this stage, we cannot confirm whether the employee acted on instructions, misunderstood the rules, or deliberately altered the records. However, the timeline strongly suggests that the changes were made to benefit Mr Scharnick,” Gopaul said.
Meanwhile, it was also revealed that despite having a criminal record, Scharnick owned five firearms, having applied for firearm competency and licences multiple times between 2015 and 2023.
Gopaul said most of the firearms were granted under “sporting” purposes as per Section 16 of the Firearms Control Act.
Scharnick owns two rifles, one .338 rifle, one handgun and one shotgun.
Gopaul said, referring to public footage, that a sporting licence does not allow one to brandish a rifle in public.
“By now, you may have seen circulating in the media a clip of Mr Stuart Shannick publicly brandishing a rifle, with a posture and demeanour suggesting he is a security person.
”There are different provisions and rules that govern this, including compliance issues as a business and premises requirements. We are yet to get into that part of the investigation,” he said.
He said they will be investigating how Scharnick obtained the licences despite disqualifying convictions, especially of the officers who approved it.
“We are still examining the files to determine what was contained in the motivations, how he acquired these permits, and how he obtained these licenses despite his conviction. This process is ongoing as part of our inquiry.
“By the firearms officer at particular stations, we will be reflecting on two police stations of interest that handled Shannick’s firearms applications. The details are reserved to allow us to investigate further. Preliminary investigations of the system are ongoing,” Gopaul said.
By the firearms officer at particular stations, we will be reflecting on two police stations of interest that handled Shannick’s firearms applications.
— Anthony Gopaul, district police commissioner
Earlier, Gopaul had revealed that among the 29 cases linked to Scharnick, 18 case dockets were consolidated into one plea, resulting in a single sentence — five years, wholly suspended, and a R150,000 fine payable over five years.
Sowetan
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