Police chief steps down as Interpol boss

Following a week of high-drama, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is expected to charge Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi for corruption and defeating the ends of justice. E-Brief News reports that it was a tumultuous weekend for Selebi who resigned as the head of Interpol, just hours after President Thabo Mbeki announced that he would take leave of absence. On Friday, Selebi’s application to prevent the NPA from prosecuting him backfired dramatically in the Pretoria High Court. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, Judge Nico Coetzee said Selebi's application bore no merit and it was struck off the roll. He said that the administration of justice would be brought into disrepute if Selebi was not prosecuted. Selebi's lawyer, Advocate Jaap Cilliers, had described the charges against Selebi as being ‘very vague allegations’. He told the court the decision to prosecute Selebi was unlawful and would further tarnish his reputation, to which Coetzee replied: ‘His reputation is tarnished already.

Selebi’s old friend and alleged Mafia boss Glen Agliotti has refuted an affidavit he signed supporting the Commissioner’s application. In an affidavit attached to the NPA's answering documents, Agliotti says part of the affidavit was made after he had consumed a substantial amount of wine, says an SABC News report. According to Agliotti, he believed he could negotiate a better deal than the suspended sentence he received on drug trafficking charges on condition that he testifies for the NPA.

Although he signed it he says he was never given the opportunity to check the document and was led to believe it would never be made public. Agliotti says he was the one who approached the Scorpions with a view to co-operate. The Sunday Times describes this about-face as a giant blow to Selebi, as he had not known of Agliotti’s decision to trade allegiances and retract the 4 January statement he had made to the police. Titled JS2 in the court record, Agliotti’s four-page statement made damning claims against the Scorpions, claiming they were out to tarnish his reputation while also trying to discredit Selebi in order to destablise the country. He said he signed the original statement at a meeting with a group of people, including the Director-General of National Intelligence Manala Manzini, and deputy head of police intelligence Assistant Police Commissioner Mulangi Mphego. He did so believing that it would help secure him indemnity in his pending criminal matters.