/ 4 November 2009

Selebi trial: Dianne Muller tells of ‘living hell’

She moved him out of her house because Glenn Agliotti was unable to tell the truth.

This was the evidence of Agliotti’s former fiancée and the state’s second witness, Dianne Muller, on Wednesday afternoon in the corruption trial of former police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Muller cast more doubt on Agliotti’s credibility, but in principle confirmed his evidence that Selebi collected cash from their Midrand office.

“I think we both know the credibility of Mr Agliotti,” Muller told Selebi’s counsel Jaap Cilliers during cross-examination. “I never assumed that anything he told me was fact. I moved him out of my house because of his inability to tell the truth.”

Muller stood firm as Cilliers questioned her own credibility.

She admitted to never actually having seen Selebi leaving the Midrand office with an envelope of money, but persisted that he left with a bank bag stuffed with R110 000 cash which she helped to pack.

Cilliers cross-examined Muller, who had begun fidgeting irritably, about what he perceived to be differences between her evidence on the witness stand, and her sworn statements. “On your evidence today, it’s absolutely clear that what was said in your statement is wrong,” said Cilliers.

“Did you mention in your statement that on a number of occasions, Mr Agliotti had told you that JS [written on envelopes of money] stood for Jackie Selebi?”

Muller replied, “No.”

“In your statement, Ms Muller,” continued Cilliers, “you say the contrary. You say JS could have been for John Stratton [Brett Kebble’s business partner] but because you never saw him, you assumed it was Jackie Selebi … why would you state under oath that it might have been for John Stratton?”

Muller replied: “Anything is possible. But probable? No. Every time it happened, Mr Selebi arrived at the office, not Stratton.”

Cilliers drilled Muller on why she had mentioned that the amount allegedly given to Selebi in the bank bag was R100 000 in her sworn statements, and now said it contained R110 000. She replied: “Glenn had just been arrested, I was being attacked from all sides.”

Cilliers: “But you made this statement eight months after the arrest. That’s not while you were still in shock.”

An irritated Muller replied: “Do you think that my life has not been a living hell since the day Glenn was arrested till today?”

Some of Muller’s evidence contradicted that of Agliotti.

Agliotti testified that Muller’s father and the financial director of her company, Martin Flint, had cashed a cheque for R100 000, which he then brought to Muller’s office, and added R20 000 to make a R120 000 package for the “cash cop”.

“It’s a very bothering situation,” said Cilliers, “that in Mr Agliotti’s version, he said that Flint was the person who drew the money.”

Muller, however, said that Selebi had come to the office first, following which Agliotti arrived with cash, and asked her to pack R110 000 in a money bag, which she then gave to Agliotti to give to Selebi. She claims that Flint was not present at the time.

Court adjourned early on Wednesday for Cilliers to scrutinise the court record before resuming cross-examination on Thursday morning.