/ 6 October 2009

How Agliotti met Selebi

Drug dealer Glenn Agliotti told the South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday that his relationship with Jackie Selebi was based predominantly on sympathy.

Drug-dealer Glenn Agliotti told the South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday that his relationship with former police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was based predominantly on sympathy, philanthropy, and fundraising.

State prosecutor Gerrie Nel provided Judge Meyer Joffe with a list of charges that Agliotti would receive indemnity for if he responded truthfully throughout the proceedings, including theft, fraud and corruption. Selebi’s senior counsel Jaap Cilliers expressed his unhappiness, saying ‘this is not proper, this does not comply with the requirements of law”. He added that many ‘people whose money had been stolen, people who were defrauded” would query the validity of the document.

Agliotti then explained chronologically how he came to meet Selebi. The first meeting happened during the 1990’s, when he met with Selebi at African National Congress headquarters Shell House. Here Selebi indicated to him ‘the problems that he had of relocating a large number of ANC members who had been in exile”. These people were now estranged from their families, and had nowhere to live. Selebi also mentioned that he had a large medical bill to pay for his son. ‘I sympathised with him and felt saddened at the task that lay ahead for him,” said Agliotti. He said he offered to settle Selebi’s son’s bill, which cost approximately R1 200, and then offered to import second-hand clothing to sell in South Africa, the proceeds of which would go to relocating the returning ANC exiles.

Selebi did not accept the offer, and the two went their separate ways. Agliotti said they later met in 2000, through a mutual friend, Yusuf Surtee, well known as the tailor and designer to Nelson Mandela, and the owner of numerous upmarket clothing outlets, including Dunhill, Aigner, Lacoste and Hugo Boss. ‘It was very nice to see him after the long break in our relationship,” said Agliotti.

Following this meeting, Agliotti again contacted Selebi for his assistance with an idea coined by Agglioti’s fiancée at the time, Dianne Muller. Muller was co-owner of Masupatsela, where Agliotti also worked. Muller wanted to imitate an event from the United States, in which law enforcement services ran a torch marathon to raise funds for the Special Olympics, an event Agliotti referred to as one ‘for mentally handicapped kids”. The couple then embarked on a project called African Hope, and contacted Selebi to help host the event, which subsequently took place in Cape Town.

Agliotti continued to testify that he, Selebi and their spouses often frequented Sandton City shopping centre to by clothes and drink coffee.

Improper business dealings
On Monday, Selebi, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, told the court that he was being prosecuted after discovering that axed prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli and his predecessor, Bulelani Ngcuka, had improper business dealings with dodgy businessmen.

Cilliers, told Judge Meyer Joffe his client’s case was that he was being maliciously prosecuted because he supported the dissolution of the Scorpions and because of his ”discoveries” of alleged wrongdoing by Pikoli and Ngcuka.

In a plea explanation read out to court by Cilliers, Selebi accuses Pikoli of obtaining a ”material gratification through his wife from the late Brett Kebble/JCI Group in an improper way”. The ”gratification” consisted of shares in mining company Simmer & Jack.

Selebi also accuses Ngcuka of attempting to extort a bribe from former Hyundai boss Billy Rautenbach’s lawyer, James Ramsay. This, according to Selebi, was during a discussion with Ngcuka about a possible plea bargain for Rautenbach.

”The information was further that Ngcuka tried to extort a bribe from Ramsay and that he was more interested in information regarding mining rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe than in the offences that Rautenbach allegedly committed.”

Ngcuka rejected Selebi’s claims ”with contempt” and said the former police chief was trying to create a ”sideshow”.

According to Pikoli’s lawyer, Aslam Moosajee of Deneys Reitz attorneys, the Pikolis deny receiving any gratification from Kebble of the JCI Group.

”Ms [Nozuko] Pikoli does not own any shares and did not previously own any shares in Simmer & Jack Limited and Jaganda (Pty) Limited. Ms Pikoli owns 2% of the shares in Vulisango (Pty) Limited, in which she became a shareholder, after Mr [Lizo] Njenje (a close friend of hers) invited her to take up a shareholding in Vulisango (Pty) Limited. Ms Pikoli had no business dealings with Mr Kebble.”

Njenje was appointed the new head of the National Intelligence Agency on Friday.

Moosajee further states that Selebi did not previously raise any concerns about Ms Pikoli’s shareholding with Vusi Pikoli.

”Mr Selebi did not meet with Mr Pikoli in that regard. The directorate [of] crime intelligence has never approached Mr and Ms Pikoli in regard to the matter.

”It is clear that Mr Selebi’s latest allegations are an attempt to deflect attention away from the very serious charges he is facing and a ruse designed to create the impression that Mr Selebi is a victim,” the statement read.