Selebi+rocks+Scorpions,+Alex+Eliseev,+The+Star



=Selebi rocks Scorpions=


 * //Says it has lost star witness Agliotti//
 * //Says pursuit of him was in bad faith//
 * //Says unit was fighting its closure//


 * Alex Eliseev, The Star, Johannesburg, 11 January 2008**

The Scorpions' star witness, Glenn Agliotti, says he never bribed Jackie Selebi - dealing a huge blow to the case against the national police commissioner.

Agliotti also claims he was bullied by the Scorpions into taking part in a "political game" to destroy Selebi, ANC president Jacob Zuma and others.

The sensational turnaround is revealed in an urgent application launched by Selebi against the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which was served yesterday morning.

The application, the reply to which was due this morning, contains a new affidavit signed by Agliotti on January 4 at Sandton police station.

Until now, it has been believed that Agliotti was going to be the star witness in the Scorpions' prosecution of Selebi - with the arrest of the Interpol head imminent.

Late last year, Agliotti struck a plea bargain with the Scorpions in connection with the multimillion-rand drug smuggling case involving Stephanos Paparas. He is still on trial for the Brett Kebble murder.

Agliotti now claims: "It has always been made very clear by Gerrie Nel (the Scorpions' Gauteng head) and his team that they did not care about the Bret Kebble (sic) murder, nor about the Papparus (sic) drug matter, as their sole and prime objective was to prosecute Selebi."

In his founding affidavit, Selebi charges that his downfall was crucial to the Scorpions' plot to avoid being disbanded by June this year. The high-profile investigation would show the country there was good reason for them to stay.

Selebi also claims the Scorpions raced to arrest him before the ANC's December conference - but this did not materialise. His application is his first real move - in which he challenges the NPA to show their cards - after months of media coverage of his alleged links to the criminal underworld.

Selebi also says he is in possession of a 2003 video interview with Agliotti in which Agliotti confesses that he misused Selebi's name to obtain money for himself from his partners.

It's unclear how the dramatic development will affect Agliotti's Section 204 immunity, as one of the conditions was for him to co-operate fully with the Scorpions.

Regardless, Agliotti maintains that: "I was targeted by the DSO (Directorate of Special Operations) and the NPA … along with National Commissioner Jackie Selebi."

He claims the Scorpions set out to discredit him and tarnish him as a "gangster and druglord", and hence discredit Selebi and save the elite crime-fighting unit.

"I maintained to the DSO all along that I never ever bribed Selebi at all and I was not going to testify."

Agliotti claims the Scorpions told him, in the presence of his lawyer, that they had an "indaba" meeting to discuss the survival of the Scorpions.

The indaba is in fact a meeting held on July 25 last year, which was attended by Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy, Nel, Andrew Leask and other top members. The decisions taken at the meeting, as well as a media campaign, form a strong part of Selebi's application to pronounce the Scorpions' investigation mala fide - in bad faith.

Agliotti's also claims that Mikey Schultz - the alleged triggerman in the Kebble murder - and others have not implicated him in the crime. But the Scorpions were desperate and arrested him after turning Clint Nassif (Kebble's former security boss) into a state witness.

"I was targeted in a political game which involved the intended demise of Zuma, Selebi, (Manala) Manzini (National Intelligence Agency), Billy Masetlha (NIA), to name but a few.

"Furthermore, I believe that this political project was intended to overthrow the law enforcement and intelligence agency of this country and to destabilise it to the benefit of outside forces, namely the CIA and FBI (who sponsor the DSO - initiated by Bulelani Ngcuka, the former NPA boss)."

Agliotti adds that to date he has not been asked to make a statement in connection with the Kebble murder.


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4200958**

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