Rob Rose and Chantelle Benjamin
BDFM Online
Friday, November 17, 2006
THE Scorpions' arrest of Glenn Agliotti in connection with the assassination of Brett Kebble represents a major breakthrough in the case, but it remains notable that it was the Scorpions who trumped Jackie Selebi's South African Police Service (SAPS) in the hunt for Kebble's suspected murderers.
This looks bad for Selebi, primarily because of his friendship with Agliotti, and the fact that the police investigation into Kebble's murder has been marked by bumbling. The probe started so badly, in fact, that some have suggested it was sabotaged.
This speculation has been given some mileage by the fact that Agliotti phoned Selebi from the scene of Kebble's murder, roughly an hour after it took place.
The police have been lambasted from the start for not properly securing the murder scene and for allowing Kebble's former security consultant, Clinton Nassiff, to remove the businessman's Mercedes-Benz car from the Wynberg police station and have it valeted.
Forensic investigator Dr David Klatzow, who was appointed by the Kebble family, was not allowed to inspect the car. Klatzow was soon "removed" from the investigation, ostensibly due to a request from Selebi to Roger Kebble - which Selebi has denied.
But Klatzow has lambasted the police for not examining the car properly, for not examining the scene of the crime and for failing to do "basic police work". From the beginning, Klatzow says, he was informed "insiders" organised the assassination.
Yesterday, he said that "had the lines of investigation been followed that I suggested at the time, then we would have been at this position within weeks, not a year". Klatzow says this puts the focus firmly on the police, and why they failed to follow those leads, especially given Agliotti's close relationship with Selebi
"Although Selebi is innocent until proven guilty, he owes the country some serious answers now, not the anodyne statements he has made until now," he says.
At the time of his murder, Kebble, the former CEO of JCI, Randgold & Exploration and Western Areas, was facing a crippling amount of debt, a looming scandal over R2bn in missing shares, and a criminal case over share manipulation. JCI and Randgold had recently been suspended from trading on the JSE, as they had failed to file their financial statements.
One view is that Kebble negotiated to have himself killed, ensuring his family would get his life insurance payout. But it is unclear whether the Scorpions are giving much credence to this staged suicide theory.
The Scorpions' arrest of Agliotti at his house in Bryanston yesterday did not begin with the probe into Kebble's death. The unit had been probing a drug smuggling and contraband syndicate headed by the "Landlord", a moniker for Agliotti.
In July, the Scorpions arrested five members of this syndicate and began gunning for the leader. Two weeks ago they arrested Nassiff, Agliotti's business partner, on separate fraud charges. Some sources claim Nassiff has since admitted much to the police, a move that is understood to have precipitated the arrest yesterday.
One source inside the Scorpions said they "tripped over the lead" and had to act on it.
But this must be embarrassing for Selebi, who said a few weeks ago that arrests were "imminent". It had been widely suggested in the media that two businessmen were in the firing line.
Yesterday, the Scorpions moved to assure the media that they had been working alongside the police on the matter.
"Communications between the (Scorpions) and the detective services of the SAPS last night and earlier this morning shed light on the status of the SAPS investigation," the unit says.
It says the police have given their "full co-operation" and "dedicated two investigators to the (Scorpions) so that the two agencies could ensure a dedicated and focused approach of the ongoing murder investigation".
Allegations of a possible link between Selebi, Kebble and Agliotti emerged soon after Kebble's death in September last year and were followed by strong rumours of a Scorpion investigation into Selebi himself. Both claims were hotly denied in May this year by senior police officials, who called it a smear campaign.
Among those who came to Selebi's defence were deputy national commissioners Hamilton Hlela, Mala Singh, Tim Williams and Andre Pruis, who issued a strongly worded statement.
Pruis features prominently in a 144-page docket by former Airports Company SA (Acsa) security chief Paul O'Sullivan, which was handed to the Scorpions in March this year. The docket alleges that Selebi was involved in criminal activity, and that he interfered with efforts by Acsa to fire security company Khuselani Security because he and the owner were friends.
It includes affidavits by senior police officials, reservists and a person linked to Agliotti.
With the documents is a typescript of an interview with a source known to the Scorpions which draws a link between Selebi, Kebble and Agliotti.
According to the source, identified only as "CS", the police commissioner and Agliotti were close personal friends who co-owned a club and sent monthly amounts to a bank in London.
The source said a close female friend of Selebi's worked at Nassiff's company, Central National Security Group.
Kebble had the security company put all JCI directors, as well as his brother, under surveillance, the source says, adding that the intelligence gathering was done by members of the SAPS.
Kebble is also alleged to have arranged a blast at Harmony mine during his takeover bid, and the arrest of Durban Deep CE Mark Wellesley-Wood, a British citizen, at OR Tambo Airport, on the grounds that he did not have a valid work permit.