Phillip du Toit, the private investigator at the centre of the Cape Town spy row, believes he is a “political prisoner” and claims that he has information that will implicate high-ranking politicians in crime.

This is the latest twist in the saga that has pitted politicians, private investigators, spooks, Scorpions and police against each other in a web of intrigue in the province.

Du Toit’s counsel, Advocate Johann Nortje, in a letter dated October 28 to Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros, accuses Petros of participating in a raid on his client’s home “to gain access to damning information to (sic) you and the premier”.

Petros said last night that Du Toit would have to provide details of these claims.

“I don’t know why he would say I was involved.”

In his letter Nortje said his client was arrested soon after he submitted his report to the police on his investigation into rogue Cape Town councillor Badih Chaaban.

“Du Toit claims he became a “political criminal” for investigations that he conducted totally unrelated to his brief in the City of Cape Town/Chaaban matter,” the letter states.

Asked to elaborate on the allegations against Petros and Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool, Nortje said he was bound by attorney client privilege and was not in a position to provide journalists with specifics.

However, Du Toit was prepared to “sing like a fat lady” about high-ranking politicians allegedly involved in “illegal activities”, Nortje said.

Du Toit was today applying to be released on bail in connection with an unrelated charge of hi-jacking.

He is already out on bail of R250 000 on another matter related to perlemoen smuggling.

Nortje said his client had not spied on anybody and had conducted an investigation into Cape Town councillor Badih Chaaban “strictly according to normal practices”.

Du Toit believes he was a victim of a political fight between the ANC and the DA-led city council, Nortje said.