Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan has denied allegations that he worked for foreign intelligence agencies and later offered to act as a double agent for South African authorities.
Former Gauteng Hawks head Major-General Prince Mokotedi made the claims in an interview for the Unpopular Opinion podcast, according to the Mail & Guardian.
Mokotedi alleged that intelligence officials established in 2017 that O’Sullivan was working for foreign agencies while publicly operating as an anti-corruption activist.
O’Sullivan rejected the claims as “fictional”.
Mokotedi alleges offer to cooperate
Mokotedi claimed O’Sullivan approached authorities through his lawyer in 2016 and offered to cooperate with police while criminal cases against him were still active.
He further alleged that O’Sullivan later told officials in Cape Town that he was linked to British intelligence and agreed to be registered as an agent so authorities could investigate his intelligence networks.
Mokotedi said the arrangement would effectively have made O’Sullivan a double agent.
These claims have not been independently established.
Emails form part of claims
The Mail & Guardian reported seeing emails that Mokotedi cited as supporting his account.
One November 2017 email referred to the possibility of criminal cases against O’Sullivan being stopped while he focused on working with law-enforcement officials.
Mokotedi also alleged that O’Sullivan later forwarded information involving a request connected to the CIA and separately sought permission relating to an aircraft.
The report does not establish that these communications prove O’Sullivan worked for a foreign intelligence service.
O’Sullivan rejects entire account
O’Sullivan denied being a foreign spy and denied ever meeting Mokotedi.
He accused the former Hawks official of fabricating the allegations and said criminal cases previously brought against him had either ended in acquittals or been thrown out.
Earlier this year, O’Sullivan told Parliament’s ad hoc committee that he had previously been involved with the British Army and military intelligence work focused on counterterrorism, but denied being a spy.
Mokotedi has stood by his version, while O’Sullivan continues to reject it.
The competing claims remain allegations, and no evidence cited in the report establishes that O’Sullivan was formally acting as a double agent.