Mphego case postponed

The case against crime intelligence head Mulangi Mphego was postponed in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Magistrate Pieter Erasmus postponed the case for further investigation.

Mphego is accused of defeating the ends of justice for his involvement in the production of an affidavit by convicted drug-trafficker Glen Agliotti, which aimed to absolve his friend—suspended police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi—of wrongdoing.

The Agliotti affidavit was filed with the Pretoria High Court in January last year in support of Selebi’s failed urgent application to stop the National Prosecuting Authority from proceeding with its prosecution against him.

It contradicted a previous statement made while Agliotti was in custody in Sandton over the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble.

In that statement Agliotti detailed, among other things, money and gifts he had given Selebi. He then went on to deny ever bribing Selebi in his January 4 statement.

In the four-page January 4 affidavit, Agliotti claimed the Scorpions were out to tarnish his reputation while also trying to discredit Selebi in order to destabilise the country.

Selebi used the affidavit to argue that the Scorpions’ corruption investigation against him was malicious and in bad faith.

However, Agliotti retracted the sworn statement just days later, claiming he was drunk at the time and was misled into signing it.

In yet another statement, made on January 10, he contended that he signed the January 4 statement at a meeting with Director General of National Intelligence Manala Manzini and Mphego at the Balalaika hotel in Sandton, believing it would help secure him indemnity in his pending criminal matters.

He claimed he was presented with the typed statement on a laptop, but did not read it and was led to believe it would never be made public.

Mphego will appear again on March 29.—Sapa