EXCLUSIVE: New tape up Selebi’s sleeve
2009-10-18 14:00
A NEW top-secret tape reveals how Glenn Agliotti, the state’s star
witness in the corruption trial of former national police commissioner Jackie
Selebi, has been lying under oath.
A covert recording of a meeting between Agliotti and
senior members of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) at a Sandton hotel on
January 4 last year has been seen by City Press journalists.
It is one of three recorded meetings between Agliotti and the NIA
and shows how the convicted drug dealer plays mole to both prosecutors and
police as the net closes in around him.
At that meeting Agliotti handed former NIA director-general Manala
Manzini a four-page sworn affidavit he had prepared in which he denies bribing
Selebi and claims that the corruption charges against Selebi are part of a
political conspiracy by the now-defunct Scorpions. Agliotti has claimed that he
was forced to dictate a statement at that meeting.
He reiterates his statement about Selebi in a recorded interview
admitted as preliminary evidence in court this week.
On January 7 Agliotti met with then acting crime intelligence head
Mulangi Mphego.
Agliotti testified in court that Mphego, who was at the Sandton
hotel meeting on January 4, coerced him into attending the interview on
January?7. The interview was supposed to be an off-the-record briefing for
intelligence gathering purposes.
But the January 4 tape shows Agliotti requesting a meeting with
Mphego, saying he has more information to add to his statement.
“Look, there are some things that I left out in the statement that
I want to share with you. This is my brother (pointing to Mphego), and I’m
willing to meet him again. You are very busy Mr Manzini. I really want to meet
with Mphegs,” adds Agliotti.
Then Mphego tells Agliotti: “Glenn I don’t want to see you without
your lawyer. And you know I record people. I’m going to bring Hollywood cameras,
so make sure your lawyer is here.”
In his testimony last week Agliotti said the statement shown in the
January 4 tape was typed at the hotel suite. He said he merely related events
and somebody else typed and printed the statement.
His testimony was an attempt to show that he was not in control
when the statement was made.
Agliotti also testified that he couldn’t remember details from the
statement because he had been drinking wine at a party earlier that day.
But the footage from the January 4 meeting shows an enthusiastic
Agliotti entering the suite with a copy of the statement in his hand.
Once inside, Agliotti tells Manzini that he is happy to see Mphego
there and that “now I am more than comfortable knowing that he is here. We know
each other well, we are brothers”. He then gives Mphego a hug.
Agliotti hands the document to Manzini, who asks: “What’s
this?”
“This is the statement I prepared,” answers Agliotti
After reading the statement and passing it to other intelligence
operatives in the room, including NIA deputy director-general Arthur Fraser,
Manzini asks Agliotti whether he objects to the statement being read and
certified by police. Agliotti indicates that he has no problem with this.
Two uniformed police officers are called in and handed the
statement to read. Mphego, Manzini, Fraser and the rest of the party continue
sipping whisky, smoking and chatting about business trips and sport. Agliotti
drinks water.
After reading the statement the police officers ask Agliotti if
they can read it back to him to make sure that everything is correct.
“No, it’s okay. I know everything in there. I made the statement.
It’s alright,” says Agliotti.
Selebi used Agliotti’s statement to the NIA in his failed bid to
have the charges quashed in January last year.
The statement was not accepted in court because Agliotti made
another one to the Scorpions claiming that the NIA coerced him into it.
In the statement Agliotti claims to have been targeted by the
Scorpions in a political game that involved the intended demise of President
Jacob Zuma, Manzini, Selebi and former NIA boss Billy Masetlha.
“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 (Central Intelligence
Agency) and FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), who sponsor the DSO (the
Scorpions), initiated by Bulelani Ngcuka (the former prosecutions chief),” it
reads.
Selebi’s lawyer, Wynanda Coetzee, said yesterday they were not
aware of the recording. “We only know of the recording which was played in
court,” she said.
- City Press