Paul O’Sullivan refuses to appear at Parliament’s Ad Hoc committee due to ‘threats’

Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan has told Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee that he will not appear before it in person, saying statements by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi have put his life at risk.

He has submitted an application to the committee to appear virtually.

While appearing before the ad hoc committee, Mkhwananzi alleged that O’Sullivan had ties to the former head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) Robert McBride and that some Ipid operations were planned.

He also accused O’Sullivan of having too much influence within the criminal justice system.

O’Sullivan says his safety at risk

In O’Sullivan’s letter to the ad hoc committee, he quoted Mkhwanazi as saying: “But, it is time that this country must not sit back and be run by Paul O’Sullivan. And if government fails to act on it, the men and women in this country are going to take it upon themselves to do something drastic about it.”

O’Sullivan says this is an incitement to violence and accused Parliament of failing to warn the KZN police commissioner that his words were a criminal offence.

ALSO READ: KZN Premier Ntuli endorses Mkhwanazi for a second term

The forensic investigator told the ad hoc committee that he had received “credible intelligence of a very real threat to murder me, no doubt inspired by Mkhwanazi and his criminal friends in the MK party and the police”.

Madlanga commission witness killed

O’Sullivan’s request to appear virtually comes after Marius van der Merwe, a witness in the Madlanga commission, was killed in an alleged hit in December. He was shot outside his home in Brakpan.

Van der Merwe had testified at the Madlanga commission about police corruption within the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department(EMPD). He also implicated suspended top cop Julius Mkhwanazi in criminal activity.

ALSO READ: Not the first time hitmen tried to kill Madlanga Commission witness Marius van der Merwe

O’Sullivan and Mkhwanazi trade lawsuits

Both O’Sullivan and Mkhwanazi have made allegations against each other for months. It resulted in Mkhwanazi filing a R5 million defamation lawsuit against O’Sullivan in September for comments he made about him. O’Sullivan responded with a counterclaim of R10 million.

O’Sullivan accused Mkhwanazi of making several false and defamatory statements against him at the Madlanga commission and parliamentary ad hoc committee.

Mkhwanazi’s defamation lawsuit was filed after O’Sullivan told several media houses that the police commissioner was involved in criminal activity.

O’Sullivan has been involved in several high-profile cases over the years regarding senior police officials and alleged corruption in the Crime Intelligence division.