Rautenbach denial puts dent in Selebi defence

According to a report in The Times, in Selebi's plea explanation in the South Gauteng High Court at the beginning of the trial, the former Interpol chief claimed that former NPA heads Vusi Pikoli and his predecessor, Ngcuka, had 'ulterior motives' in charging him with corruption. Selebi claimed that Ngcuka tried to solicit a bribe from former Hyundai boss Rautenbach, and it was because of Selebi's knowledge of this that Ngcuka and Pikoli brought the case against him. The state alleges that Selebi received R1.2m in bribes from Rautenbach, from convicted druglord Glenn Agliotti, and from slain mining magnate Brett Kebble in return for 'favours'. Rautenbach, a convicted tax evader who reached a deal with SARS two months ago and paid a R40m fine, told the court that he had not bribed Ngcuka. 'That is not possible. There was no bribe whatsoever,' he said. Rautenbach testified that he wrote to Ngcuka about his legal problems and that a letter he received from Ngcuka was about 'intelligence gathering'. Full report in The Times

Rautenbach also told the court about a meeting in Johannesburg between his lawyer James Tidmarsh, Agliotti and Selebi about investigations against Rautenbach. 'The meeting took place on 19 April 2005. After the meeting, Tidmarsh came to the DRC where I was. He came to greet me and said he met the Commissioner of Police and they discussed my case. Tidmarsh told me that obviously Agliotti had the contacts and maybe this is a way of taking this thing forward.' According to a report in The Citizen, Rautenbach said he then made a payment of US$100 000 to Agliotti in an airport parking lot. 'We believed he had the necessary contact to get my case resolved. He was obviously connected.' Rautenbach testified that at one stage his lawyer James Ramsey met officials of former prosecutions head Bulelani Ncguka's office, but the issues discussed did not relate to his tax or Hyundai issues. 'His people were trying to gather intelligence about Zimbabwe and the DRC.' Full report in The Citizen See also a report in Beeld

The court also heard that Paul Stemmet, the security consultant for the Kebbles, had received R1.3m in informant payments from the state. Police superintendent H Nel, of the Crime Intelligence Division, testified that Stemmet was a 'very, very good source', says a Beeld report. In the year he worked with Stemmet, police confiscated goods to the value of R350m based on information supplied by Stemmet. The report notes Nel said Stemmet later introduced him to Agliotti, whom he identified as 'his source of information'. Full Beeld report

There was some drama during yesterday's proceedings when Rautenbach was served with papers related to the affairs of the Hyundai group. After some negotiation with the lawyer serving the papers, his spokesperson said he had been served with unrelated civil litigation. 'Mr Rautenbach has just been served civil litigation related to the affairs of the Hyundai group,' Madelain Roscher said, according to a report in The Citizen. 'There is no link between the criminal case and the civil case.' Full report in The Citizen See also a report in Beeld