A 39-year-old Western Cape man was arrested for perjury after lying about being robbed of over R500,000 by police officers.

“The complainant opened a case of armed robbery at Cape Town Central SAPS, and reported that he was robbed by police officers of an amount of R560,000 and three cellular telephones,” police said in a statement.

According to police, the man was interviewed and taken to the crime scene.

“After further investigation it was found that there is a CCTV camera mounted outside where the crime allegedly occurred and the footage was viewed and nothing could be seen of the incident that had been reported.

“The investigating officer approached the complainant of his findings and the complainant later informed the investigating officer he lied and had made up the whole story and that he was never robbed because he had lost the money that was meant for his employer and opened a false case,” police said.

The man is also alleged to have tried to bribe the investigating officer with R10,000 to make the case “disappear”.

“He took the investigating officer to his house where money to the total of R247,000 was seized which was booked in as an exhibit. The suspect informed the investigating officer that there was never R560,000. He stated he had made it all up to inform his employer he was robbed,” police said.

“The SAPS wants to warn the public to refrain from reporting false cases as this constitutes a crime. All reported incidents will be investigated thoroughly, and false claims are usually detected during this process.” 

The man  faces charges of perjury and bribery. He is due to appear in the Cape Town magistrate's court on Monday.