Emotions flared in the South Gauteng High Court on Friday afternoon as the prosecution repeatedly asked former police chief Jackie Selebi why he had shown convicted drug-dealer Glenn Agliotti a secret police document implicating Agliotti and his friends in criminal activities.
Selebi was responding to questions by chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who started cross-examining the former police boss and president of Interpol on Friday morning.
The long-awaited battle between Selebi and Nel did not disappoint. The accused was visibly irritated at the prosecutor's incriminating questions while Nel's temper shortened by the minute as Selebi refused to answer his questions.
The email and the affadavit
Adding to the tense atmosphere in court was an altercation between Judge Meyer Joffe and Selebi's counsel Jaap Cilliers regarding Cilliers allegedly sharing a joke with his attorney while Nel was questioning Selebi.
Joffe told Cilliers to stop smiling while Nel was conducting the cross-examination. Cilliers denied that he had laughed, but Joffe said he had seen him and told him to sit down.
Nel spent most of his cross-examination on Friday afternoon questioning Selebi about an email containing an affidavit by a state witness that Selebi admitted showing to Agliotti in a parking lot in Woodmead, Johannesburg.
The document refers to the Scorpions' investigation into Agliotti and the drug-ring around him and contained references to numerous people and incidents. Selebi said he only showed it to Agliotti so that he could inform his lawyer about the "falsehoods" that were being spread about him.
Nel repeatedly asked Selebi why he, "a senior, experienced police officer trained in intelligence", showed Agliotti the entire document containing sensitive police information and not only the relevant parts.
Selebi said he wasn't interested in the other parts of the statement.
The former top cop also surprised the court when he admitted calling Agliotti on his cellphone from a top-level police meeting about the Brett Kebble murder investigation.
The state alleges this was one example of the mutually beneficial relationship between Selebi and Agliotti.
During his cross-examination of state witness Paula Roeland (a police employee attending the meeting, who testified about the call to Agliotti), Cilliers did not put Selebi's version of the call to her.
Nel said he found it "amazing" the Selebi could now suddenly remember in detail what happened at the meeting and that he had called Agliotti from his cellphone. Selebi could not explain why Cilliers didn't put his version to Roeland.
Cross-examination resumes on Monday.