KZN police reveal criminal record tampering linked to suspended SAPS top cop's associate
Major General Anthony Gopal disclosed at a media briefing in Durban that the criminal records of Stuart Sharnick were tampered with by an SAPS employee.
Image: Leon Lestrade / Independent Newspapers.
KZN police confirm an SAPS employee altered Stuart Sharnick’s record to hide hijacking links. A forensic probe is underway.
Image: Kamogelo Moichela/IOL News
KWAZULU-NATAL police have confirmed that an SAPS employee tampered with the criminal record of Stuart Sharnick, an associate of suspended Crime Detection head Shadrack Sibiya.
The disclosure was made at a media briefing held on Thursday afternoon, by Acting Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Crime Detection, Major General Anthony Gopal, who revealed that system logs showed that an employee made the changes on January 16, 2025.
"On the 16th of January at 16:58, a particular SAPS employee accessed the criminal record system and made adjustments to benefit Mr Stuart Sharnick," Gopal stated.
Gopal also revealed that the deleted records were traced through the system’s audit trail and that a forensic investigation was underway.
He described the act as a deliberate corruption of police data, allegedly orchestrated at Sharnick’s behest.
Gopal also mentioned that the person who deleted the records did not fully understand the auditing system, hence the deleted records remained visible in the system’s back end.
"Unfortunately, the particular employee doesn't understand the full extent of the auditing side of the back end of systems. And on the back end of systems, the transactions that he deleted reflect and remain on the back end of the system," Gopal said.
He added that the forensic side of the system investigation will continue to bring evidence forward and to hold that employee accountable.
The briefing aimed at clarifying matters raised at the ongoing Madlanga Commission.
Amongst the several claims of hijacking revealed by Crime Intelligence Head General Dumasani Khumalo at the Madlanga Commission as part of his evidence, Gopaul said that there were 29 cases linked to Sharnick.
Sharnick has denied the claims and said that he has never been convicted of any hijackings.
“We have to start with the lies that he put on record, that I was convicted of 18 hijackings. I have not been convicted of one hijacking in my life," says Sharnick
"I have my records from the Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) and if General Khumalo had any intelligence, as the head of intelligence, he would have picked up the phone and phoned the Local Criminal Record Centre, which keeps the records of all the cases,” he added
Earlier this week, Sharnick opened charges Khumalo, accusing him of defamation.
The police have not yet disclosed whether disciplinary action will be taken against the SAPS employee involved in the record tampering.