Serious Organised Crime

The DPCI has operational components including Serious Commercial Crime, Serious Corruption Investigations, Serious Organised Crime, Forensic Accounting Investigations, and Priority Crime Specialised Investigations. The latter provide operational support but do not carry dockets or execute arrests.

“The DPCI has the following operational components: Serious Commercial Crime, Serious Corruption Investigations, Serious Organised Crime. Also operational support components like Forensic Accounting Investigations and Priority Crime Specialised Investigations that provide support but do not carry dockets or execute arrests”

Investigations conducted by Serious Organised Crime, Serious Commercial Crime, and Serious Corruption Investigations often overlap because organised crime involves corruption and related money laundering and fraud activities.

“the nature of the investigations that we are conducting tends towards overlapping. Because organised crime can, for instance, never take place without corruption. So there is always that corruption element. And then in terms of subsequent money laundering activities, obviously, it goes hand in hand with fraud, and that then includes the commercial space. So there is always that overlap”

Serious Organised Crime is defined as coordinated, structured, ongoing criminal conduct by groups involving serious offences prioritised nationally by SAPS.

“Serious organised crime is coordinated, structured, and ongoing criminal conduct carried out by criminal groupings involving serious offences which, by reason of their scale, sophistication, or societal impact, fall within the category of national priority offences contemplated in section 17(d) of the South African Police Service Act, Act 68 of 1995. Serious organised crime is a subset of national priority crime referred to in section 17(d) of the SAPS Act.”