The Scorpions were obsessed with graft accused Jackie Selebi and would do whatever was needed to bring him down, convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti alleges in a video recording played in court on Thursday.

"They are so obsessed in discrediting Selebi and discrediting SAPS [SA Police Service]," Agliotti says in footage being viewed in the High Court in Johannesburg as evidence in the corruption trial of former top cop Jackie Selebi.

"The whole thing is to bring down Selebi and it's a politically-driven thing. They [the Directorate of Special Operations] don't want to go back to the police. They want to be a separate entity," he says in the video.

The recording, made in a Sandton hotel room on January 7, 2008, shows Agliotti, police commissioner Mulangi Mphego and the National Intelligence Agency's Arthur Fraser discussing the investigation into Selebi.

Agliotti says the Scorpions told him they had to "tarnish" him to get to Selebi.

"We had to tarnish you and make you look as bad as we could to target Selebi," he claims in the video he was told.

"It's all about strategy. They build public awareness. They made me out to be big drug lord, the landlord, the mafia boss. It was all bull***t."

He alleges the Scorpions told him the Brett Kebble murder was unimportant: "It's clear to me that they didn't give a damn about the Kebble murder because they said Kebble was a rotten piece of rubbish.

"It was clear to everybody that this was politically motivated and driven, there is no other reason for it," he says referring to his arrest for the mining magnate's murder.

Agliotti was arrested for Kebble's 2005 murder in November 2006. He is set to go on trial in that case next year.

Agliotti also denies ever bribing Selebi and says he told the Scorpions: "I never bribed the man. You are wasting your time.

"Gentlemen, I never bribed the national commissioner. He's my friend. What gain did I get?

"They go on the assumption that because of my criminal activity he had to be on my side. I respect him as a friend and I respect his position. I never went and said 'please help me. Give me a tender. I never asked him for anything."

He says the Scorpions told him he was unaware of his intentions in his friendship with Selebi.

"They said I was unaware, but I had it in the back of my mind. This bullshit that [they say] because they are trained by the FBI and CIA. The subconscious leads you [to do this] because you are a gangster."

Agliotti said the Scorpions told him his case was similar to infamous American mafia boss John Gotti.

"Are you f*****g mad? What is the similarity of me and John Gotti?" he exclaims.

Agliotti told the court previously he agreed to the filming on the understanding it was off the record and purely for intelligence gathering purposes.

Judge Meyer Joffe ruled on Thursday morning: "The video evidence of the interview which took place on January 7, 2008 is preliminarily ruled to be admissible."

Selebi is facing two counts of corruption and defeating the ends of justice related to payments of at least R1.2-million he allegedly received from Agliotti, slain mining magnate Brett Kebble and ex-Hyundai boss Billy Rautenbach.

Agliotti has made a deal with the State in the Selebi case and will receive indemnity from prosecution on charges including corruption, money laundering, racketeering and defeating the ends of justice if he testifies "frankly and honestly".

Read more from the Selebi trial...