A captain attached to the SAPS’s Protection Security Services who was arrested for fraud at the weekend, has been granted bail of R50 000.

• Fraud-accused Captain Johannes Daniel Jansen van Rensburg has been granted bail.
• Jansen van Ransburg – who is attached to the SAPS’s Protection Security Services – made his first appearance in court on Tuesday,
• He stands accused of pocketing millions of rands he syphoned out of the SAPS’s coffers under the guise that it was for travelling expenses for police VIP bodyguards attached to his unit.

A captain attached to the SAPS’s Protection Security Services (PPS), who was arrested for fraud at the weekend, has been granted bail of R50 000.

Captain Johannes Daniel Jansen van Rensburg was nabbed by the SAPS’s anti-corruption unit on Monday on the back of an internal investigation instituted “following suspicious transactions on the Polfin system” amounting to about R5 million. This is the official finance system used by the SAPS.

According to a statement from the police, he “allegedly used his access to the finance system to withdraw monies running into millions”.

“An investigation has uncovered that he manipulated the system to book out cash for himself under the [guise] that the money was meant for travelling expenses for close protectors attached to the PPS. Further investigations uncovered that the money was not received by the close protectors but booked out in lump sum cash amounts by the member”.

He made his first appearance in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Jansen van Rensburg is accused of theft totalling R1 027 742.90 and fraud to the value of R4.7 million. In respect of the latter, the charge sheet states that he made out that “certain members of VIP protectors went on trips for which they received cash advances to the value of R4.7 million”, when, in fact, “the original memorandum drafted as permission for the trips did not include the members the accused added and/or such created members did not go on the trips and/or he took the money and members created did not received the indicated advances”.

He applied for bail on Tuesday. Charged with schedule 5 offences, Jansen van Rensburg had to show that the interests of justice permitted his release. The State, however, did not oppose bail, and it was ultimately set at R50 000.

The case was postponed to 30 July for further investigations. In the interim, Jansen van Rensburg has also been suspended.