Former top cop Jackie Selebi’s lawyers will liaise with correctional services about Selebi being unable to report to jail as expected, his attorney Wynanda Coetzee said on Monday.
This was after the lawyers met the registrar of the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to explain why Selebi had not reported for his 15-year prison sentence on Sunday as required once his appeal against his corruption conviction failed.
The former national police commissioner collapsed on Friday when the appeal was dismissed and was taken to hospital. The medical report indicated it was as a result of a long standing condition.
Coetzee would not say what this was.
Selebi was found guilty of corruption for accepting money from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti and giving Agliotti benefits such as showing him a British drug investigation report.
Selebi was also president of Interpol.
Confiscation order
The National Prosecuting Authority said Selebi’s lawyers had approached the agency on Saturday to say he might not be able to present himself to correctional services on Sunday.
They were told to approach the court registrar for this.
Beeld reported Coetzee as saying: “If the order is that he must go to jail, then that will happen.”
Asset Forfeiture Unit head Willie Hofmeyr told SABC radio news that the money paid to Selebi amounted to about R165Â 000.
“We’ve already obtained a confiscation order. We are waiting for the finalisation of the appeals and then that money will be payable … Our law entitles us to adjust those to inflation so the total order we obtained [was] for about R230Â 000,” Hofmeyr told the broadcaster. — Sapa
For coverage of former police chief Jackie Selebi’s corruption trial and aftermath, visit our special report.
