ANC+NEC+supports+Jackie+Selebi,+Mapiloko+and+Sefara,+City+Press

City Press, Johannesburg, 18/11/2006 21:08 - (SA)
=Kebble killers’ cop links=


 * Jackie Mapiloko and Makhudu Sefara**

The ANC NEC yesterday threw its weight behind Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi following a briefing by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula.

It is understood that Nqakula first briefed President Thabo Mbeki in the holding rooms before addressing the NEC.

ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said the NEC was “unanimous” during the deliberations and that the question of whether Selebi should stand down “did not even arise” as members were told that the issue was being handled at government level.

A source said discussions were lively and that even though not everybody unconditionally supported Selebi, many seemed suspicious of the main source of the information, Paul O’Sullivan, because of his Intelligence background.

The Brett Kebble murder, its investigation and the arrest this week of a number of people have revealed a web of underworld dealings by people who were used by the police as informants.

City Press can reveal that:

· Glenn Agliotti, the man facing charges of murdering Kebble, not only paid the killer of Kebble, but was also an informant of the police – which could explain his many meetings with National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. · Clinton Nassif, who was head of Kebble’s security but also the man who recruited the killers, used his status as a police drugs informant to push his own drugs into and around the country. · Paul O’Sullivan, a self-confessed ex-British spy who has been targeting Selebi and accusing him of being in the pocket of criminals, was the one who took statements from some of the killers, which eventually led the Scorpions to arrest Nassif and later Agliotti.

A bitter behind-the-scenes turf battle between Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and Selebi’s lieutenants saw a rush to arrest three bouncers who were involved in the September 2005 murder of Kebble in Melrose, Johannesburg.

Selebi was seen at the ANC NEC meeting yesterday morning, where he met Cabinet members, believed to include President Thabo Mbeki. It is unclear what they discussed but the ANC later issued a statement stating that they supported “the police” in the fight against crime.

“The NEC reaffirmed its confidence in, and support for, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and other law-enforcement agencies as they intensify their efforts to tackle crime and bring criminals to justice.

“The NEC took note of recent media speculation regarding the National Commissioner of Police, including erroneous media reports that this matter was on the NEC agenda.

“The NEC noted the statement issued by Cabinet and the Minister of Safety and Security.

“It was further advised by its deployees in government that this matter is receiving attention, and that if any wrongdoing is found to have been committed by any person then appropriate action will be taken,” the statement concluded.

City Press sources said government may issue a statement later, which may explain why Cabinet has refused to budge on calls that the “friendship” between Selebi and Aggliotti should result in the police chief being either suspended or fired.

Information from both the police and the Scorpions shows that Kebble had ordered his own death, and that Agliotti had merely been the person who paid Nassif to pay the killers once the hit had been done.

The fact that the Scorpions are prepared to offer immunity from prosecution to the actual killers and go only for Agliotti, is seen in police circles as a continuation of the turf war, with the spotlight falling on Selebi and his now-public association with Agliotti.

Agliotti and Kebble were business partners.

The immunity was granted by the National Prosecuting Authority on the advice of O’Sullivan, who yesterday could not provide proof that he indeed had retired as an MI6 spy. O’Sullivan said he did not respond to information from anonymous sources.

O’Sullivan is behind the allegations that Selebi allegedly received a R50 000 bribe and had a secret over-seas account into which criminals paid him money.

According to documents obtained from intelligence sources, O’Sullivan also had a grossly inappropriate relationship with Scorpions investigators Herby Heap and Robyn Plitt – sometimes doing the work that the investigators should have done.

In a statement given to his legal adviser in the event “something should happen to me”, O’Sullivan makes the following startling remarks: “I advised Plitt of this fact, as well as the fact that this second (police) officer was to fly out of the country on or about the 30th March 2006 and, since I was also flying out on that date as well, I would be able to meet with him and take a statement from him. She agreed to this. Whilst on my way to the UK (I) advised him inter alia that I was assisting the Scorpions with certain aspects of an investigation and I took a statement from him (a police officer).”

An intelligence source asked yesterday how a former foreign intelligence operative came to take statements from possible witnesses on behalf of the Scorpions. “This is not just unprofessional but clear infiltratrion,” said the source.

O’Sullivan, however, said he saw nothing wrong with him taking statements on behalf of the Scorpions. “He (the cop) was at the airport at the same time (as I was) so I told them (DSO) and they said it was fine. If I had not done that, the evidence was going to be available three months later,” he said.

O’Sullivan further states his role in securing the “indemnity” from prosecutions of the people who killed Kebble. “I then took him to the police station and had him swear to his statement. We used a pseudonym… I agreed with him that I would not hand his sworn statement to the Scorpions until they had confirmed to me that he would be protected against prosecution for his involvement.”

O’Sullivan refused to comment on the matter and demanded to know the identity of the source.

City Press has established that five people participated, at different levels, in Kebbles’s death – but that only Agliotti and former cop Steven Sonders would face the wrath of the law. Even then, the charge is for conspiracy for murder, while the murderer is granted immunity from prosecution in terms of section 204.

“The effect is that the person responsible for the killing of three people, including Kebble, is walking free because the NPA believes a pursuit of some fraud case is more important than the lives of these people,” an ANC NEC source said.

The killer is a close associate of Nassif after parting ways with Elite Security. Agliotti appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday and has been remanded in custody at the Sandton police station until December 8. Speculation was rife that a Johannesburg police commissioner had been arrested, but NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said no further arrests have been made. He also said the NPA knew of the whereabouts of the witnesses.

The genesis of the Kebble saga is found in the financial and legal problems he faced shortly before his “suicide”.

People close to the investigation say Kebble had checked that his insurance policies were in good standing three months before the “hit” and that his wife and children could benefit by R40 million. Kebble allegedly spoke to Agliotti, who approached Nassif. He contracted the killer for the R1.5 million job.

While the Scorpions this week took all the kudos for solving a crime the police were draggin their feet with, a clear picture emerged of the turf war between the Scorpions and the police.

City Press has established that McCarthy and the head of detectives of the police, Johan de Beer, met for supper on Tuesday. De Beer told McCarthy they were going to arrest the five Kebble suspects.

McCarthey alledly protested, saying they were helping the Scorpions in a fraud and corruption investigation and that it would be difficult to procure such assistance if they were behind bars. Later that day police located the five suspects around the Comaro Road/N12 area, but they were apparently drunk.

An instruction was issued that the arrest should be made the next day because the bouncers were armed and drunk.

An intelligence source said: The next thing, the Scorpions had taken them to some unknown place, given them immunity and they were inaccessible to the police. In my view, the Scorpions wanted to appear publicly to have been the ones to crack the Kebble investigation – even if this meant that the actual killer is freed so that a fraudster in imprisoned.”

O’Sullivan said Agliotti was a “big fish”. In this case, Agliotti is seen as the person behind the “suicide” arrangements and the payments after the job was completed.

The other participants include known members of the notorious Fast Guns and Majimbos gangs.

Another is linked to the Israeli mafia.

On spying allegations, O’Sullivan said he did not have to provide proof that he was no longer a spy.

Nkosi said Section 204 indemnity had to be earned by telling the truth in court – to the satisfaction of a presiding officer.


 * From: http://www.news24.com/City_Press/News/0,7515,186-187_2032549,00.html**

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