The Point brings you the first of many political deathmatches: Fikile Mbalula vs Kader Asmal.
Glenn 'wrote-off money'
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Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05
A witness gave explosive testimony of payments and gifts given
to former police head Jackie Selebi when she testified in his
corruption trial on Wednesday.
Dianne Muller, the ex-fiancee of convicted drug trafficker Glenn
Agliotti, testified that Agliotti began to believe his friendship
with Selebi placed him above the law.
"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," the
slender blonde told the High Court in Johannesburg.
Earlier Muller told how she had packed R110 000 in cash for
Selebi at offices in Midrand which Agliotti also used.
"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'.
"About 20 or 30 minutes later Glenn
shouted Selebi is leaving. I
waved goodbye and he [Selebi] had the bank bag in his possession."
During cross-examination, Muller reiterated she saw Selebi
leaving with the bank bag.
"He left with the bank bag in his hand."
Muller said she confronted Agliotti about the payment.
"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."
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 Agliotti would place payments allegedly destined for Selebi in envelopes marked with the initials JS.
Asked how she knew the JS stood for Jackie Selebi, she said:
"When Glenn Agliotti had written on the envelopes that said JS,
they would leave with Jackie Selebi."
However, later she said she never actually saw the envelopes in his hand.
Muller said on average, Selebi came twice a month to the offices that she moved her business into in 2004, always "dressed in full uniform".
Muller 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 mentioned 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, Johannesburg.
Muller described 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."
Muller said she did not take "anything" Agliotti told her as
fact, and this characteristic eventually ended their decade-long
relationship.
"I moved him out of my house because of his inability to tell me
the truth. The more he thought he was untouchable and above the law
the more of a handful he became."
Muller — who admitted to being nervous at the beginning of her
testimony — more than held her mettle against defence lawyer Jaap
Cilliers' badgering style of questioning.
Making eye contact with him, she refuted claims about
inconsistencies in her statements or untoward influences shaping
her testimony.
At one point she
adamantly told him: "It's the truth, Mr
Cilliers. That is what happened."
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.
Court will resume on Thursday morning to allow the defence time
to consult the record of Muller's evidence.
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.