Parly inquiry into police graft quizzes Kohler Barnard over handling of classified info

Democratic Alliance (DA) member of Parliament (MP) Dianne Kohler Barnard has been grilled by her fellow members of the police ad hoc committee, who questioned her handling of classified information.

While Kohler Barnard has defended sharing information about the purchase of a property by Crime Intelligence, members of the committee put her to task on Thursday and questioned her motives.

But she said the information that she released about the R23 million purchase of a “luxury hotel”, through an intelligence slush fund, was already in the public domain.

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Kohler Barnard, an alternate member of the ad hoc committee probing police corruption, found herself on the other side of the fence as she faced questions from her colleagues.

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had earlier submitted that Kohler Barnard broke the law when she shared the information in a press statement.

African National Congress (ANC) MP Khusela Diko questioned whether sharing the information was well advised as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI).

“At some point, you spoke about some things would be kept within the JSCI for fitting reasons. Now, this issue of these properties, when you consider it, you don’t think there’s fitting reasons that would compel you to handle these matters in a different way?”

But Kohler Barnard said she disagrees and won’t cover-up what she thinks is irregular.

“I absolutely don’t. I’m not here to cover up corrupt things. I’m not here to certainly cover up anything I believe smells of corruption.”

The committee will now call in another MP, Fadiel Adams, who will also answer to similar allegations of using classified information.