Much tighter control of the spies at the National Intelligence Agency is needed to prevent them from abusing their broad domestic security mandate, civil society and media groups have told a ministerial review commission, set up by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils in the wake of the ”hoax email” and illegal surveillance scandals.
The Mail & Guardian has identified a notorious international fugitive as part of Glenn Agliotti’s former circle of intimates — adding a new twist to the probe of Agliotti’s relationship with police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi. Antonio Lamas, as he was then known, joined the group around Agliotti in the late 1990s.
The story of Cuban fugitive Nelson Pablo Yester-Garrido has all the elements of a spy thriller, including spies, submarines, fast cars, Russian mobsters, arrests, escapes and a strip club. Yester-Garrido, now 47, was arrested in 2002 in Johannesburg by police acting on an Interpol warrant.
British investigators visited South Africa last week as part of their probe into allegations that BAE Systems paid bribes to secure contracts under the arms deal, while pressure mounts on the company from law enforcement agencies around the world. BAE won the tender to supply Hawk trainer aircraft and SAAB Grippen fighters worth R30-billion under the deal.
A team from the National Prosecuting Authority visited police national headquarters three weeks ago, seeking material that they thought might assist their investigation into the criminal syndicates surrounding Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti.
Ten years after it replaced the short-lived senate as Parliament’s second chamber, the National Council of Provinces has very little to celebrate. The gathering momentum behind proposals to trim the provincial system down to size is a real existential threat to the council, but even without constitutional changes to hurry it to oblivion, it has long since drifted into irrelevance.
Neoconservatives care about the poor. This proposition may not be entirely ludicrous: that poverty, underdevelopment and failed states breed jihadists with empty bellies and fiery eyes (or vice versa) is one of those claims with all the force of triteness working in its favour. Whether it is strictly true is a more complicated question.
The Investec banking group is poised to succeed where Brett Kebble failed: to sweep up the mess left by the biggest corporate fraud in South African history with a minimum of disclosure and accountability, leaving shareholders to grin and bear it.
The huge scope of the investigation into the Brett Kebble empire became clear this week as details trickled in on a seizure of evidence by the Scorpions on Wednesday. The raids took place under the banner of Scorpions project “Empire K”, which focuses on the fraud carried out in the two main companies controlled by Kebble.
The Scorpions investigation into Brett Kebble’s murder is shifting focus from Glenn Agliotti as the main target to Clinton Nassif, the mining magnate’s security consultant. Nassif’s house in southern Johannesburg was among the premises raided countrywide by Scorpions investigators this week — even though Nassif’s status has been that of cooperating witness.