The police paid an informant R500 000 for information drug-lord Glenn Agliotti gave former police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi for free.
Selebi was questioned at length on Monday morning by chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel about a payment of R500 000 to former police informant and bodyguard Paul Stemmet after a mandrax bust in Kya Sands, Johannesburg.
Selebi testified that Agliotti tipped him off about a consignment of mandrax, hidden in boxes with tiles, that was going to be delivered to a “Madam Cheng” at Kya Sands.
Police arrested six people and recovered mandrax worth R105-million. The bust was widely publicised at the time and Selebi had his picture taken with the recovered drugs.
Selebi couldn’t explain to the court why he had allowed Stemmet to be paid for information he received from Agliotti for free.
‘Cover-up’
Asked by Nel why Stemmet, who was a registered police reservist, was paid for doing “police work”, Selebi testified Stemmet’s reservist status was a “cover-up”.
Nel replied: “How can it be a cover for an informant to be a policeman? All the criminals would know he’s a policeman.” Selebi told the court it was explained to him that Stemmet would need a reservist police card to get out of certain situations.
Keep quiet or leave
There was drama in the courtroom on Monday morning when Judge Meyer Joffe told Selebi’s brother, who has been attending proceedings regularly, to keep quite while Selebi was being cross-examined or leave court.
This came after the former police commissioner’s brother made loud comments to Nel’s questions.
Nel was also infuriated when Selebi produced a secret file and started reading from it from the witness stand. Selebi’s counsel Jaap Cilliers placed it on record that he had nothing to do with the file or its contents.
Witnesses aren’t allowed to consult their legal advisors while being cross-examined.
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