/ 9 November 2009

Selebi’s finances laid bare

For a number of months between 2005 and 2006 former police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi did not withdraw a cent of cash from his own bank account.

This was the evidence given by forensic auditor Dean Friedman in the South Gauteng High Court on Monday morning as Selebi’s corruption trial entered a new chapter with the admittance of forensic evidence.

Friedman, a director of audit firm KPMG, testified that their brief was originally to probe the accounts of slain mining magnate Brett Kebble’s mining companies, but the Scorpions later extended KPMG’s scope to include payments from Kebble to accounts used by Selebi’s friend, the drug-dealer Glenn Agliotti.

KPMG scrutinised cash withdrawals from these accounts and were also asked to perform a lifestyle audit of Selebi.

He gave an example from Selebi’s bank statements, showing that the former top cop would receive R33 000 a month, but spent R47 000.

‘In this month he spent R14 000 more than what he earned. In total [for the period analysed by KPMG] the accused’s income exceeded his expenditure, but this included big amounts like bonuses and pensions,” Friedman testified.

He further told the court that between January and March 2005, Selebi drew no cash from his personal accounts and also cashed no cheques.

‘This pattern of reduced expenditure continued during 2006. It [cash withdrawals] only picked up again during July 2006.”

Agliotti earlier testified that he made cash payments to Selebi during 2004 to 2006. Specific reference was made to large payments at the end of 2004.

According to Friedman, Selebi drew cash and cheques worth R126 000 between March 2004 and January 2005 from his cheque and credit-card accounts. For the next twelve months, the total amount of withdrawals dropped to R25 800.

Friedman told the court that he had to compile an addendum to his main report because he was only recently provided with Selebi’s subsistence and travel claims from the police and bank statements of Selebi and his wife’s foreign exchange transactions.