/ 29 September 2006

Selebi, Agliotti and the dirty cops

The Scorpions search warrant used to conduct last week’s raid on Glenn Agliotti — friend of police chief Jackie Selebi and fixer for the late Brett Kebble — has spotlighted Palto, a murky security company that freelanced for the police.

The Scorpions last week raided premises belonging to Agliotti, whom they have identified as “the Landlord”, a kingpin in a major drugs and contraband cigarette syndicate.

The search warrant lists Agliotti as a suspect alongside members of Palto, as well as senior police officials who were Palto’s contacts at police headquarters.

Allegations that Palto served as a cover for a crime syndicate remain unproven, but available evidence serves to reinforce the suspicion that the contraband syndicate was improperly linked to police at the highest levels. Selebi, who has tried to downplay his friendship with ­Agliotti after initially saying that Agliotti was “my friend, finish and klaar”, allegedly was close to Palto too.

Palto was set up in the late 1990s by Paul Stemmet, a bodyguard, karate expert and captain in the police reserve. After Selebi took over as police national commissioner in 2000, Palto quickly and controversially rose to prominence, conducting undercover operations on behalf of the police.

Several sources have told the Mail & Guardian that Stemmet had direct access to Selebi. Rapport reported in 2003 that Stemmet had his own parking spot at Wachthuis, the police headquarters in Pretoria.

According to evidence presented in a recent high court civil dispute, Palto was an undercover front for the South African Police Service’s intelligence services, and Stemmet reported directly to Deputy Commissioner Raymond Lala. The SAPS has consistently denied Palto performed operations on its behalf, although it concedes Palto members may have done so.

In interviews with the M&G, Selebi has been vague about his relationship with Stemmet, but claimed he had met him when Agliotti’s events company hosted a visit by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stemmet provided close protection. “There was never an arrangement between the SAPS and Palto as an organisation, there were people who were reservists,” Selebi told the M&G in a July interview.

Stemmet’s operation was blown in 2003, largely via disclosures by Willem Heath, who was engaged by Kebble at the time.

Palto was used among other things in police undercover operations to break drug and cigarette smuggling rings, but the Agliotti search warrant issued last week suggests that the Scorpions believe the Palto operation instead became a means to protect and cover for the syndicate.

The Scorpions warrant lists ­Agliotti as one of 12 persons suspected of crimes ranging from corruption to drug trafficking, money laundering and defeating the ends of justice. At least three of those named in the warrant, including Stemmet, worked for Palto. Two others, Inspector Charles Bezuidenhout and Captain MornÃ