Sheryl Cwele denies drug-trafficking charges

Sheryl Cwele (50), wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, has denied being involved in drug trafficking.

In bail application papers filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday, Cwele describes how she got involved with the man accused of working with her to traffic drugs.

“I wish to categorically state that I never knowingly participated in any drug trafficking, conspiracy or incitement to deal in drugs as set out in the indictment, or at all,” said Cwele.

The papers were filed by Cwele’s lawyer, Mvuseni Ngubane, on Tuesday afternoon.

Cwele and Frank Nabolis, a Nigerian arrested last month, face three charges. These are: dealing or conspiring to deal in drugs; procuring a woman called Charmaine Moss to collect drugs in Turkey; and procuring another woman, Tessa Beetge, to smuggle 9kg of cocaine from South America.

Beetge was arrested in São Paulo by Brazilian police on June 13 2008.

Police found 9,2kg of cocaine concealed in her baggage. She is currently serving an eight-year jail sentence in São Paulo for drug trafficking.

Cwele said she knew Nabolis through an acquaintance, Nikkie, who worked with her in Johannesburg two years ago.

She said she had become close to Nabolis and that he had asked her to recruit two white people to work for his company. She then contacted Moss and Beetge, she said.

The bail hearing is set to take place on Friday.—Sapa