The lawyer representing Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti ”knows nothing” about plans to charge Agliotti with involvement in a multimillion-rand drugs syndicate.
The lawyer, Lawrence Hodes, said he did not attend a brief court appearance on Tuesday by Stephanos Paparas (45) at which it was indicated that another accused was to be added to the charge sheet.
The Scorpions reportedly told a Johannesburg newspaper that the person referred to was Agliotti and that they called him ”The Landlord” — the nickname given to the head of the smuggling network.
”I wasn’t there. I know nothing about it,” said Hodes, refusing to comment further.
Paparas — who is represented by Hodes’s father Max — handed himself over on July 13 after the arrest of his elderly father and four others on July 7 during a Scorpions investigation into an international drugs syndicate.
During the probe, hashish and cannabis with an estimated street value of R250 000, and believed destined for the overseas market, was seized at a self-storage facility in Alberton.
At the time, the Scorpions said the storage facility contained a well-equipped factory for the packaging and concealment of drugs.
Sentence was passed on Canadian Lesley Curtis and South Africans Christiaan Albas and Pedro Marques in the Alberton Magistrate’s Court on July 25 after they apparently turned state witness under a plea agreement.
According to the Scorpions, the three had also undertaken to identify key role-players in the drug industry and key routes used to transport illegal substances to other countries.
Curtis and Albas received 10 years each, suspended for five years, while Marques was sentenced to five-and-half years, three of which were suspended.
Conditional bail of R50 000 was granted to Paparas’s 70-year-old father, Dimitrio, on July 13. Bail was also set for Stanley Poonin. They were described as minor role-players in the syndicate.
The younger Paparas received bail of R500 000 on August 11, but was placed under 24-hour house arrest and was ordered not to make contact with state witnesses — conditions the court refused to relax on Tuesday.
He is accused of being The Landlord’s right-hand man.
A Germiston Regional Court official confirmed on Tuesday that an additional accused could be charged, but did not name this person.
He said the case against Paparas had been provisionally postponed until January 18 for further investigation, with the possibility ”that an additional accused will be charged on that day”.
The Star reported on Tuesday that the Scorpions’ Gauteng head Gerrie Nel had told the court ”an outstanding suspect has been arrested on the Kebble murder and will be added to this charge sheet”.
He later reportedly told the newspaper: ”Agliotti will also appear in this case. We refer to him as The Landlord.”
Agliotti, who has denied being The Landlord, will bring a formal application for bail on the Kebble matter in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. — Sapa