The Scorpions’ strategy of taking down the conspirators in the Brett Kebble murder one at a time bore further fruit this week when Glenn Agliotti confirmed his role in the killing, while dubbing it an “assisted suicide”.
It appears that Agliotti has now joined Kebble’s former security boss Clinton Nassif — who apparently “turned” after his earlier arrest for insurance fraud — as well as Nassif’s underworld associates Mickey Schultz, Nigel McGurk and Faizel “Kappie” Smith as state informants.
All are understood to have acknowledged being responsible in some way for Kebble’s death and to have reached agreement to testify for the state.
And it is clear that the Scorpions are trying to leverage complicity in the Kebble murder to gain access to further information about the criminal network that forms the subject of their wider investigation, dubbed “Project Bad Guys”.
At Agliotti’s bail hearing this week, prosecutor and investigation leader advocate Gerrie Nel said the project was the “biggest organised crime investigation we’ve ever dealt with”. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi confirmed that further arrests were expected.
In an affidavit in support of his bail application, Agliotti also stated that he had been advised that the state intended to charge another suspect, John Stratton, as a co-accused in the murder case. Nel did not dispute this and, in addition, confirmed Agliotti was being investigated for his role in drug smuggling as well as in the massive financial fraud perpetrated on the JCI and Randgold & Exploration companies.
Stratton, who is currently living in Australia, was regarded as Kebble’s consigliere and features prominently in questions about the fake deals Kebble used to siphon off hundreds of millions of rands from the companies he controlled.
Nel also confirmed the Scorpions’ concern for Agliotti’s safety. Security at Wednesday’s court appearance was extremely tight; the Scorpions brought in their own SWAT team to guard Agliotti. Nel also confirmed that the Scorpions would take responsibility for protecting Agliotti after his release on bail.
In court Agliotti appeared calm, almost blank. His statement was read out by his advocate, Lawrence Hodes. In it Agliotti confirmed his willingness to cooperate with the murder investigation, but offered very little indication of how extensive that cooperation has been or could be. Earlier in the week Nel told the Germiston Magistrate’s Court that Agliotti would be added as an accused in the drug-smuggling case against Stefano Paparas and others.
The July bust led to several of the accused reaching plea agreements in return for evidence against Paparas and the man they then referred to as the “Landlord”, and whom Nel confirmed this week was Agliotti.
However, it remains to be seen how far Agliotti’s cooperation will extend. A number of sources have fingered Agliotti and Nassif as “bag men” used to make payments to people in business and government to advance and protect the syndicate. Meaningful disclosure by the two men could prove explosive. But the evidence contained in his affidavit gives little away.
Agliotti states: “The late Brett Kebble assisted and played a material role in the planning of his death, which was in fact an assisted suicide. He initially, and before I became involved, planned to provide the pilot of his aeroplane with a tablet placed in a drink that would have caused his death and the consequent fatal crash of the plane with the late Brett Kebble being killed as a passenger thereof.
“Thereafter, and after I had become involved, it was decided to rather make his death look like a carjacking. After numerous dry runs and plans, he was killed in this manner by persons who have been identified by the state and apparently granted section 204 indemnity for the roles that they played.”
Section 204 grants accomplice witnesses the possibility of indemnity provided they testify fully and truthfully. It is widely believed that such a deal has been offered to Nassif, Schultz, McGurk and Smith.
The “assisted suicide” theory has been dismissed by Kebble’s brother Guy as “bullshit”. He told South African Broadcasting Corporation radio he did not believe it for one minute, saying that this was merely the conspirators “plan B” to exculpate themselves. But, Agliotti’s account appears to accord with what other accomplices have told prosecutors. Nel told the bail hearing that the state had a strong case “but we have to agree with the accused that this could be termed an assisted suicide”.
Nel also said that Agliotti was party, inter alia, to financial arrangements with respect to the murder. Questions still remain about a financial transaction involving Kebble, Agliotti and Nassif that allegedly took place ahead of the murder. A number of sources have suggested Kebble had given Agliotti or Nassif money to take out of the country in some form and that this may have provided an additional motive for the murder.
Agliotti’s own financial affairs are still opaque. On this, he was at his most vague, claiming: “My business interests are commodity dealing and raising finance for large projects involving coal, gold, diamonds, gas and other commodities.”
The only concrete example he gave was a charity affair in which police commissioner Jackie Selebi was involved. Agliotti said: “I was involved in a tour by Arnold Schatzenegger [sic] of South Africa for the Special Olympics with a delegation of approximately 60 people to create awareness for mentally challenged children.”
A framed Schwarzenegger T-shirt is the only gift Selebi admits he received from Agliotti. Agliotti said his home was currently valued at about R6,5-million and that he had a R1,2-million bond against it.
Agliotti was also keen to portray himself in court as a model citizen, saying he was devoted to his daughter, that he was not a violent man and did not harbour “any resentment” against anyone. “I have adopted a previously disadvantaged child, whom I educate at my own personal expense,” he claimed, also noting his involvement in a host of charities.
Magistrate Chris Eksteen granted Agliotti bail of R500 000, on the condition that he remain under house arrest and be available to investigators at all times. The case has been postponed until January 25 next year, but the extradition of Stratton, should it materialise, could take up to a year.
‘It’s out and out murder’
Meanwhile, a criminal-law specialist said this week that the assisted suicide scenario painted by Glenn Agliotti would be treated as a murder case with no mitigating factors if it were to go to court, reports Kwanele Sosibo.
Agliotti claims that Brett Kebble, beset by financial woes, including a pending fraud case against the South African Revenue Service, initially planned to die in an air crash by drugging his pilot before opting to be shot inside his luxury Mercedes Benz instead.
“That’s out and out murder. There is very little mitigation in killing someone [to help him out of financial troubles],” said William Booth, chairperson of the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society of South Africa.
“I don’t know any instance quite like what is alleged here. It’s quite a bizarre situation that a deceased would go that far [to order his own life to be taken]. It doesn’t sound realistic unless someone is suffering from a life-threatening disease that he alone knew of.”
Booth said there are several precedents in South African law for mercy killings, such as when individuals were terminally ill and someone had relieved them of their pain. He added that when it comes to sentencing, the courts often make a distinction between the person who arranges a murder and the person who actually carries it out.
“In my experience, the murderer is usually desperate financially and is picked on out of his financial desperation. Normally, the planner would get a heavier sentence because he planned it and thought out the whole scheme. But again, it depends again on the reasons and personal circumstances of the accused and whether or not the killing was in the interests of society.”