Selebi knew of Agliotti’s crime links – paper

According to the Mail &Guardian report that the Scorpions tried to prevent being published, Selebi was told in 2002 about his friend Glenn Agliotti\'s involvement in a R105m Mandrax bust. This revelation apparently came from a witness affidavit made to the Scorpions by Paul Stemmet, the head of Palto, a vigilante squad that freelanced for the police at the time of the Mandrax bust. Selebi visited the scene, reportedly saying the bust sent a message to drug lords that they had ‘nowhere to hide from the law’. However, subsequent investigation failed – Agliotti remained untouched, suspects caught red-handed were released and much of the haul was stolen back from the police. The paper admits it has no evidence that Selebi personally interfered with the investigation, but it says the incident raises serious questions because the Commissioner has previously denied knowing of criminal allegations against Agliotti, his friend, including those contained in the statement. Full Mail & Guardian report

Selebi has no doubt that the real facts will be revealed in time and that his name will be cleared, his spokesperson, Director Sally de Beer, is quoted as saying in The Star. But that has not stopped opposition parties renewing their calls for his dismissal, according to a report on the IoL site. ‘If the latest allegations …prove to be true, then (Safety and Security) Minister Charles Nqakula has no option but to fire him,’ the DA’s Dianne Kohler-Barnard said. Said Freedom Front Plus spokesperson Pieter Groenewald: ‘The latest disclosures regarding... Selebi\'s alleged knowledge of Agliotti\'s criminal activities since 2002, leaves President Thabo Mbeki with no option but to discharge Selebi without any further delay.’ Full report on the IoL site Full report in The Star

Another threat has come from Paul O\'Sullivan, the axed airport security chief, who according to a Sunday Argus report has written to the Commissioner demanding he quit before Christmas or face the publication of further allegations against him. O\'Sullivan also claimed to have reliable information from ‘two independent, well-placed sources’ that a hit had been ordered on his life – and named the alleged hired assassin, who is said to be the head of a vigilante-type organisation. Full Sunday Argus report

More has been unearthed on the car the Commissioner has been using. According to the Sunday Times it has established that the white 1999 Toyota Landcruiser, worth about R270 000, used by Selebi and his driver, was stolen in Japan and belonged to Nipponkoa Insurance Company, which has paid out the victim of the car theft in Japan. Although Selebi’s spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo, claimed that the Japanese insurance company has waived its right to the stolen car, he refused to provide documentation to show this. Selebi’s Landcruiser was one of a batch of hundreds of vehicles stolen in Japan and transported to Dubai before being sold illegally in SA, says the report. Police claim the vehicles were then legally forfeited to the state, but the Japanese say that they are the rightful owners. Japanese insurance companies, including Tokio Fire&Marine and Nichido Fire&Marine, have sent letters of demand to Selebi’s office in respect of at least 10 vehicles, worth about R5m in total. Selebi’s car is not among those claimed in the letters of demand as the history of this car is still under investigation. Full Sunday Times report

How Selebi has kept his job to date is tackled in a speculative report in The Weekender, which suggests he survives because of the ‘fractious politics within the party’. It says the murky and divisive politics of the succession race have tainted the response of senior ANC and alliance leaders to the snowballing controversy, with some even suggesting the embattled police chief is being targeted in a ‘purge’ of senior securocrats deemed insufficiently loyal to President Thabo Mbeki. Insiders, it said, suggested ‘the current climate’ in the ANC rendered it difficult for the ruling party to take decisive action. This would be so even if it were eventually proven that Selebi had acted wrongfully. ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said the validity of the claims against Selebi would first have to be ‘fully tested’ before the ANC and government could be expected to act against him. ‘I believe government will look at all information and assess its validity. If it is valid, I’m sure government will adopt the appropriate position,’ he said. But Ngonyama conceded the ruling party was ‘definitely worried’ about a potential loss of confidence in the police as a result of Selebi’s troubles. ‘The starting point is that leadership, both of the police and government, must have impeccable credibility,’ he said. Full report in The Weekender

Mbeki is under pressure to protect the image of the police. The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International SA resolved that the ‘dignity’ of the SA Police Service’s top post was being undermined and that Mbeki had to step in. The Sunday Times quotes TI SA’s chairman Hassan Lorgat as saying: ‘We are not saying that Selebi is innocent or guilty ... but rather that the image and dignity of the police service’s top office is being undermined and that the public has lost confidence in this office,’ he said. Full Sunday Times report