ALLEGED underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack has accused top cops of helping alleged crime bosses to foster drug deals at Cape Town clubs.
In his explosive testimony in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday, he claimed that Mark Lifman and Jerome “Donkie” Booysen were working with former cop Major-General Jeremy Vearey, as he began his defence.
Modack along with 15 others are facing over 100 criminal charges in a mammoth underworld trial before Judge Robert Henney.
According to the State’s case, Modack is allegedly behind the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear who was shot and killed outside his Bishop Lavis home in September 2020.
Addressing the court, Modack explained his clashes with Lifman and Booysen started over an argument at a property auction dating back nearly 10 years.
He claimed two of his properties went on auction as his family business collapsed and that he first came to blows with Lifman who tried to buy one of the properties.
Modack said he was friends with Booysen’s brother, Colin, who accompanied him to an auction in Parow to stop Lifman but claims Lifman held a gun to his face which resulted in a violent clash between the two groupings.
With the backing of TSG Security and Eagle Security, Modack sought out the owner of Mavericks and offered to take over their security and drop costs by 50%. He explained the security was being managed by Lifman and his associate Andre Naude and claimed they were allowing drugs to be sold inside the clubs.
After the agreement was put in place with Mavericks, Modack said they were approached by other club owners who did not want Lifman to be in charge of security.
He said the clubs later came under attack by gunmen who opened fire on patrons and claims cops concocted a story that he was behind the shootings.
Modack added that several firearms were confiscated and later returned and he met with Vearey.
He said Vearey told him to give Lifman half of the nightclubs but Modack refused, saying he wanted to keep the clubs "drug-free".
"He told me you are either with us or against us," Modack said, explaining he understood Vearey to be "on the side" of Lifman and Booysen.
Modack said that several months later, he was arrested and charged for the extortion of The Grand and sent to prison along with Colin.
While in Pollsmoor, Modack claims the head of the prison informed him of a threat on his life and he was moved to a different section of the prison.
He claimed Colin informed him that Booysen and Lifman were behind the plan to murder him.
But after being granted bail and going on trial at the Cape Town Regional Court he was acquitted of all the charges after the Magistrate found that the State witnesses were placed under pressure by police to open criminal cases against Modack.
In his testimony Modack accused cops of meeting with witnesses at Lifman’s home in Sea Point to create fabricated charges against him.
Cape Times