O'Sullivan appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court for alleged immigration offences for which he was charged in April last year.

On Thursday, the court extended his R20 000 bail to his next appearance on March 17.

He was also granted permission to travel abroad, on condition that he notified the investigating officer within 48 hours.

His lawyer, Barry Roux, also asked that his client be given back all three of his passports.

State prosecutor Sello Maema said, according to his understanding, O'Sullivan was in possession of both his Irish and South African passports.

Not guilty plea

However, O'Sullivan replied that his British passport had not been given back to him.

The State undertook to return the outstanding passport to him by Friday, if it indeed was in the Hawks' possession.

Last year, O'Sullivan used his Irish passport to leave the country.

He was taken off a plane at OR Tambo International Airport and arrested in front of his two daughters who he was accompanying back to school in England.

He was charged with contravening section 26B of the South African Citizen Act for having left the country on two previous occasions using his Irish passport. The act makes it a criminal offence for a South African citizen to enter or leave South Africa on a foreign passport.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

'Stop me if you can'

O'Sullivan said at the time that he had used his Irish passport because his life was in danger.

He said Czech criminal Radovan Krejcir, who he had been investigating for years, had ordered hits on his life.

Before his arrest, O'Sullivan had sent numerous emails to police, threatening to expose alleged corrupt activities by President Jacob Zuma and top police officials.

He goaded them with the words, "stop me if you can", The Star reported.

O'Sullivan said in one email that he would hold a media conference in London to expose the alleged corruption.

A 15-member Hawks team arrested him before he could do so.

- News24.com