The Point brings you the first of many political deathmatches: Fikile Mbalula vs Kader Asmal.
'He became very arrogant'
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Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:45
Convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti believed he was above
the law because of his friendship with former police head and graft
accused Jackie Selebi, court heard on Wednesday.
"Agliotti started to believe that he was larger than life. That
he was bigger than anyone. That he could do anything. That the law
could not touch him because he was friends with the accused," State witness Dianne Muller, his ex-fiancee, told the High Court in
Johannesburg.
"He became very, very arrogant."
A friendship of "gain"
Muller describe the relationship between Agliotti and Selebi as a "friendship of gain".
"I think they used each other for what they could gain from the friendship," said the visibly nervous petite blonde.
She detailed having packed R110 000 for Selebi at office
premises in Midrand which Agliotti also used.
"Agliotti rang and said he was running late, but was meeting Jackie Selebi. He asked if when Selebi got there I could
give him coffee and chat to him until he got there."
During the "small talk" Selebi spoke about how hard he was working to try and correct the country, she said.
"Glenn Agliotti arrived. He went down to the office and handed me money from his briefcase. He asked me to pack R110 000. Agliotti had a money counting machine. I put it in the machine and there was R120 000.
"I counted R110 000 and put it in a white bank bag. I took it down to the boardroom and put the bag in front of Agliotti. He put his hands on the bag and slid it across to Jackie Selebi and said, 'Here you go, my China'.
"Selebi looked decidedly uncomfortable with my presence in the boardroom. He did not touch the bag. It sat on the glass table in front of him. I then went back to my office.
"About 20 or 30 minutes later Glenn shouted Selebi is leaving. I waved goodbye and he [Selebi] had the bank bag in his possession."
"I felt it was not really the way for things to
happen"
"I had a discussion with Agliotti and I said that I felt it was not really the way for things to happen, that the national police
commissioner was to be paid off by Glenn Agliotti.
"He told me to mind my own business."
Asked by prosecutor Gerrie Nel if she had taken any steps to report the matter, Muller replied: "How do you report something to the police when their boss is the person [implicated]?"
Muller said on average, Selebi came to the offices that she
moved her business into in 2004, twice a month, always "dressed in
full uniform".
She said one time Agliotti had received a call on his car phone.
"Selebi asked Glenn can he please lend him R10 000 for his son's birthday party."
Agliotti agreed but said he did not have the money on him and he would have to come and collect it another time.
"Glenn then turned to me and said 'lend my ass, I'll never see that money again'."
The next morning Selebi
arrived at the office.
"Glenn told me he handed over the money."
On another occasion she confronted Agliotti about the
"exorbitant" amounts of money he was spending on clothes accounts.
"He said it was not for him, that he was buying clothes for Mr Selebi."
She detailed a time Agliotti had bought a Gucci handbag for Selebi's wife on a trip to the UK, and another time he bought his
sons clothing from the Fubu shop in Sandton. Agliotti once gave
Selebi's driver R1000 to buy takkies as he was running in a
marathon.
During her testimony, Muller said she met Agliotti at stables in
Chartwell where they both kept horses in 1993. Their relationship
ended in 2003.
Muller explained the Spring Lights account, through which slain
mining magnate Brett Kebble allegedly channelled various payments,
included ones apparently to Selebi.
"[Spring Lights] was a company owned by my father that he sold
to Brett Kebble of JCI. Spring Lights
was used by JCI to transfer
relatively large amounts of money. Glenn [would] instruct him [her
father Martin Flint] to write out cheques."
She said Agliotti would write cheques for amounts such as R5000,
R2000, or R10 000.
Agliotti would sometimes request cheques for larger amounts, but notification was given to Flint, so the bank would have sufficient cash.
She said Agliotti would put the money in envelopes or in his briefcase and always write initials on the envelopes.
One of the initials was JS, which she said stood for Jackie
Selebi.
Asked how she knew this, she said: "When Glenn Agliotti had
written on the envelopes that said JS, they would leave with Jackie
Selebi."
Muller described Agliotti as an "overly generous" person who
supplied gifts to "very many people".
Muller appeared visibly nervous as she raced through her
testimony.
Lightening delivery
Nel called her style of delivery "a flash
of lightning".
Earlier, Muller was warned that, like Agliotti, she would
receive Section 204 indemnity from prosecution on various charges
if she was found to have testified "frankly and honestly".
According to Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act, a person
guilty of criminal conduct may testify on behalf of the State in
exchange for indemnity from prosecution.
Judge Meyer Joffe read out the charges to Muller, which include
corruption in relation to Selebi, as well as fraud, money
laundering and theft in relationship to the Spring Lights account
which Kebble allegedly used to make various payments.
Selebi is facing a charge of corruption and another of defeating
the ends of justice in connection with at least R1.2-million he
allegedly received from Agliotti and others in return for favours.