Pots and kettles – and Paul O’Sullivan

If we could mine ironies and sell them on the global market, we’d save our economy. We’ve just hit a particularly rich seam with Zuptoid and former spy chief, Arthur Fraser, whom Paul O’Sullivan paints below as “Public Enemy Number One”. O’Sullivan suggests that along with Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential security detail chief, General Walther Rhoode, Fraser is more crooked than a bent nail and should also be behind bars. One of the more ironic aspects of what would otherwise be an excellent reality TV series called, Who’s the Biggest Liar? are these questions – prepared in time-honoured journalistic fashion by a member of that otherwise fantasy news outfit known as Independent Newspapers and all valid – posed to our very own Crusader for Justice, Paul O’Sullivan. Forget the motivation for going after O’Sullivan for the moment (or Independent’s historic links to the Zuptoids, embedded or not), the questions are valuable for the responses they provide. Which makes this a worthwhile read. You decide who is the biggest liar. For those whom history judges correct, a slew of designer TV couches awaits (which may or may not be stuffed with cash). – Chris Bateman

Email chain from Paul O’Sullivan

Good afternoon Tshwarelo.

Your enquiry of even date refers.

Since Mr Fraser has tried to fraudulently implicate me, I have copied the head of the DPCI, so that what I say to you, is ON THE RECORD with the DPCI.

The only reference I saw in the hearsay letter of Mr Fraser, is the following:

I note that Mr Fraser uses the expression “…, is said to have used …”. He does not state who said this, but merely repeats it as if it is a fact. This is the case with 80% to 90% of what he says in this letter and in the farcical docket he has opened.

The facts are:

1. The very first I knew of the so-called Phala Phala incident was earlier this year, when it surfaced in the media. I was able to establish that it surfaced in the media because Arthur Fraser caused it to appear in the media. At the time the incident appeared in the media, I had absolutely no prior knowledge of the incident or the allegations of Fraser.
2. For the avoidance of doubt, I was NOT involved in tracing or finding anybody, or bringing them into the custody of the president’s security detail, none of whom I have ever met in my life.
3. I have never been contacted by the DPCI about this matter.
4. When it appeared in the media, I was somewhat taken aback so I did carry out a preliminary investigation. My findings were quite shocking and are set out below:

• Ninety percent of what Fraser alleges is pure hearsay, without a shred of prima facie evidence, although it seems that some of it may have underlying facts, for example a house break-in, not a robbery as widely reported in the media, did take place.
• The head of the Presidential Security Detail, Major General Walther Rhoode, had a very dark history, involving crimes such as racketeering and corruption.
• It could not be established how Rhoode got into the position of Major General in the police, when it seems he should have ended up in a criminal trial for his alleged criminal activity in the past.
• Up until early 2020, Rhode was swamped in debt and was not able to make ends meet.
• By 2021, all of Rhoode’s debts had miraculously vanished, indicating a sudden large income stream form somewhere.
• The ONLY video tape of the house break-in that took place at Phala Phala, was removed by Rhoode, or persons reporting to Rhoode and handed to Arthur Fraser.
• Arthur Fraser not only published his version of events, through a select group of journalists, but he also supplied them with a copy of the video footage he had handed to the police.
• Some of the photographs used by Fraser, ostensibly to point out motor vehicles allegedly bought with the proceeds of the alleged crime at Phala Phala, pre-date the actual incident, thereby making it impossible for them to have been purchased with proceeds of a crime that took place in February 2020 at Phala Phala.

5. The result was that almost all of the allegations made by Fraser are impossible to prove or disprove, because they are based on speculative hearsay and not fact.
6. It is very easy, especially for a person such as Fraser, to take a long thin line of truth and wrap it up with fat lies in the hope that the casual observer will believe the whole thing, when in fact it is a tailor-made pack of lies, with a sprinkling of the truth to give it an air of authenticity.
7. I am left realising that at least 80% to 90% of what Fraser alleges is an intentional figment of his imagination, conceived after realising his days as a free man are numbered and he needs to create something that can be used to either cause a change of presidency. He can then obtain some sort of get-out-of-jail-free card from an incoming Zuma loyalist, or improve his bargaining position with the current president to be let off the hook for his crimes of theft and fraud that have taken place over many years, which started with the theft of the standby generator, supplied at taxpayer expense for the commission of enquiry into the Scorpions; which generator was subsequently seen installed at Fraser’s private house.
8. I wonder what other rabbits this magician will pull out of the hat, to inflict upon a gullible public.

If an investigation is needed now, it should be into the following, at least:

1. How much money Fraser has stolen from the people of South Africa, some of which was stolen through his shadowy Principal Agent Network, which still seems to be alive and well.
2. Why Fraser has NEVER been brought to justice for his crime against the State.
3. How many people were paid with the stolen cash to run a third force type of parallel intelligence structure, that acted off the radar to destabilise the country for Zuma and his accomplices.
4. How Walther Rhoode was not put on trial for his prior crimes, which miraculously vanished at the hands of crooked Zuma appointees Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi.
5. How Rhoode ended up as a major general in the police and ‘protecting’ the president.
6. How Rhoode managed to suddenly pay off all his debts and where the cash came from.
7. Whether Rhoode was a ‘sleeper’ planted there by Fraser to be ‘woken’ when the timing was right.
8. How Fraser came into possession of the video of the break-in at Phala Phala.
9. How many other ‘sleepers’ are still on the payroll of Fraser’s third force intelligence network, who they are, where they are and when they will be ‘woken’.
10. Why the state (DPCI) has committed valuable resources investigating the hearsay of this criminal Arthur Fraser, when substantial priority crimes are being committed on a daily basis, with ample prima facie evidence, (as opposed to hearsay evidence) yet valuable resources are being used to settle the score of a low-life criminal like Fraser.

Put simply, it’s time the media started focusing on the real criminal here and the agenda being run by them. People like Fraser and Rhoode belong in prison and it’s time they were exposed for what they are.

Best wishes, 

Paul O’Sullivan CFE

Good Morning, Mr O’Sullivan

My name is Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane, from Independent Media. I’m following up on a document submitted to the Section 89 independent panel. The document, said to have been written by Arthur Fraser, names you as one of the people who helped President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security detail trace and apprehend suspects in the Phala Phala farm burglary between 2020 and 2021. It is common cause that you are somebody renowned for exposing corruption, but in this instance, you are accused of illegally playing a role in what has been termed an attempt to cover-up the burglary, which has far-reaching implications as you would have seen in parliament and other platforms.

I therefore request that you respond to the following questions in order to assist in the story that I’m writing.

1. Did you or did you not assist the president’s security detail to trace suspects in the Phala Phala burglary?
2. Did you use your investigating capacity to bring the suspects into the custody of the president’s security detail?
3. Have you been approached by the Hawks in order to assist them with their investigation into the Phala Phala matter, especially since you are named in one of the documents Fraser handed to the Hawks?
4. As somebody who is well known for investigating fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes, have you ever attempted to investigate the veracity of the claims made by Fraser about money laundering that took place at Phala Phala? If not, why not?

Your time is highly appreciated. Please let me know what time you will be able to respond to the questions.

Below is a link to the document you requested.

Many thanks, Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane

Read also:

• Arthur Fraser: A ‘Zuma man’ for all seasons
• Azapo sets its sights on latest trophy, Ramaphosa
• Fraser’s fazing of the President – a tense nation awaits
• DA’s push for Phala Phala ad-hoc committee vs Section 89 Committee – here’s the difference