Kebble’s death an ‘assisted suicide’ – Agliotti

However, the mining magnate instead opted to die in an assisted suicide hijacking, which he had planned himself, says The Star. Agliotti\'s defence council, Max Hodes SC, read an affidavit signed by Agliotti which said Kebble had played an active role in the orchestration of his own death and had conducted numerous ‘dry runs’ before the actual killing. Hodes also said he had been advised that Kebble\'s former business partner, John Stratton, currently in Australia, was to be added as a second accused. Stratton was Kebble\'s co-director at JCI, as well as his strategic advisor and co-ordinator on security and intelligence operations. Full report in The Star

Scorpions investigators say this is their biggest investigation yet into organised crime. According to a Business Day report, the prosecution did not oppose bail but asked for strict bail conditions to ensure Agliotti did not interfere with witnesses as it told the court that his arrest was now part of a bigger investigation into organised crime. Full Business Day report

But Agliotti may not necessarily plead guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Hodes said he may not make such a plea just because he has admitted to assisting the mining magnate to commit suicide, according to SABC News. Hodes made the submission as part of a deal struck with the National Prosecution Authority (NPA). The NPA submitted in court that it was concerned about the safety of Agliotti. Full SABC News report

A Moneyweb report points out several inconsistencies in Agliotti’s affidavit. There is no proof of Kebble’s alleged ‘assisted suicide’ in Agliotti’s affidavit, such as supporting affidavits by others who may have been involved. Agliotti also states that ‘my business interests are commodity dealing and raising finance for large projects involving coal, gold, diamonds, gas and other commodities’. He conspicuously does not name a single one of the companies, entities or projects that he refers to, past, present or future. Agliotti states elsewhere in the affidavit that Kebble initially, ‘and before I became involved, planned to provide the pilot of his aeroplane with a tablet placed in a drink that would have caused his death and the consequent fatal crash of the plane with the late Brett Kebble being killed as a passenger thereof’. More accurately, Agliotti could have referred to Kebble’s Gulfstream II, and smaller Bombardier Learjet 45. These are jets. Full Moneyweb report

Additional details on John Stratton are revealed in a second Moneyweb report. It says British-born Australian Stratton was among Kebble’s closest associates. JCI’s annual report for 2004 introduced Stratton (70) as ‘a director of various Australian companies’ with 40 years of experience in the resource sector, who had ‘managed a number of joint venture operations in the Persian Gulf, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, US, Mauritius and India’. Stratton’s precise role and purpose were undefined, but he alone had untrammelled access to Kebble. Their adjoining offices at Monterey (the latter-day JCI head office, in Cape Town) had an interleading door and Stratton would enter Kebble’s domain at will. Full Moneyweb report

Kebble’s brother said yesterday he did not believe the assisted suicide claim. Guy Kebble said the suicide story was simply the murderer\'s ‘Plan B’ after he initially hoped the murder would be swept under the rug and forgotten. According to a Beeld report, he added : ‘Glenn was the first one to give me a hug and a kiss after Brett\'s murder. He even promised to help find Brett\'s murderers.’ Full Beeld report