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 |  Subject: South Africa’s longtime police commissioner charged with corruption  Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:11 am | |
| The drug trafficker and the police commissioner were once nattily attired pals, or so the allegations go. The two men would shop together here in the finest high-fashion boutiques, occasionally pausing for a cappuccino between expensive purchases of designer apparel.
The commissioner, Jackie Selebi, was partial to Canali ties, Hugo Boss knitwear, Etienne Aigner jackets and Louis Vuitton shoes, particularly the brown suede. And since smuggling is far more lucrative than policing, the drug dealer, Glenn Agliotti, would generously pick up the tab.
Mr. Selebi, South Africa’s senior police officer from 2000 to 2008 and the former chief of the international crime group Interpol, is now on trial here, accused of corruption and defeating the ends of justice. The proceedings are entering their third week, with much more to come. Mr. Agliotti, a convicted drug kingpin who faces charges for the killing of a mining magnate, is only the first of 63 state witnesses.
This is one of those trials that promise to offer up juicy tales of the high and mighty involved in things down and dirty — and it has begun as the disconnect between the country’s pampered political elite and its impoverished masses seems particularly extreme.
Recently, Haroon Bhorat, an economist at the University of Cape Town, told Parliament that based on his calculations, South Africa now has “the most unequal society in the world,” falling behind Brazil for this ignominy. He warned that this gap “is a threat to social stability.”
Indeed, some of those at the bottom are decidedly rebellious. So-called service delivery protests have become a staple of the headlines, with the police doing battle with the rock-throwing and tire-burning poor. The protesters commonly lament their lack of water, electricity and toilets and complain that their elected officials are getting rich in back-room deals.
The governing party, the African National Congress, has promised to devote more money to the poor, but the concern of the nation’s leaders, however genuine, seems belied by their displays of extravagant spending.
One cabinet member after another has purchased a luxury car — often a 7 Series BMW — for official use. With an array of extras — rear-seat entertainment systems and a massage feature in the plush cushions — most of the vehicles cost more than $100,000. This spree of ostentation has been dubbed “Cargate.”
Blade Nzimande, who is not only the minister of higher education but also the general secretary of the South African Communist Party, purchased a BMW 750i for $146,000. Buying was cheaper than renting, one of his aides was quoted as explaining to the newspaper The Sowetan. The finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, a champion of austerity, won praise for his moderation in selecting a more humble $74,000 Lexus and $78,000 Audi.
South Africa has not escaped the worldwide recession. Some 360,000 jobs have been erased, making it all the harder for the poor to accept official profligacy. The Agliotti testimony about subsidizing the shopping sprees of Mr. Selebi appears to be just another example of an insider’s wheeling and dealing.
“He enjoyed shopping, and so did I,” Mr. Agliotti said of the police commissioner. “When I traveled to London, I bought him shoes at Harrods. I also bought him a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes in Hong Kong.”
Prosecutors charge that Mr. Selebi accepted not just haute couture but about $135,000 in cash from Mr. Agliotti. Reciprocating, the commissioner shared bits of sensitive information that the criminal found useful.
The case could be a regrettable milestone. “In a democratic South Africa, it changes the notion of organized crime being the stereotype of gangsters operating out of a township and shows that it has allegedly penetrated into the highest elements of the police,” said Hennie van Vuuren, a corruption expert at Institute of Security Studies, a research group in South Africa.
So far, the trial has bordered on the grotesque. Both the accused and the witness seem in competition to outdo the other’s attire. Each day, the news media report on the fineness of their ensembles, the suits, the shirts and the ties.
No matter how well dressed, Mr. Agliotti, 52, has the beefy look of a bouncer in a bar. As a witness, he alternately sounds intensely emotional and strangely blasé. He has promised to “frankly and honestly” testify against Mr. Selebi in exchange for a free pass on various crimes the two may have committed together.
Mr. Agliotti is experienced at making deals with prosecutors. In exchange for testimony against others, he was let off with a fine and a 10-year suspended sentence in his drug case. He is now the star witness against Mr. Selebi. And in the opening days of the trial, he produced what the prosecution wanted, boasting in a convincing way of the many gifts he had given Mr. Selebi.
But then, on cross-examination, he admitted that he lies whenever it suits him and he then seemed to prove it every time he moved his lips. He recanted statements he had made on sworn affidavits, though at times he went on to recant those recantations. On Wednesday, he admitted that he had concocted a lie just five minutes earlier in his testimony.
“I truly apologize,” he told the judge with a casual shrug.
Most important, he agreed with Mr. Selebi’s lawyer, admitting that he may have been mistaken about any tit-for-tat and “had never obtained any assistance — improper assistance — from the accused in any way.”
Furthermore, he agreed with the heart of Mr. Selebi’s defense, that the case against the police commissioner was allegedly cooked up by two corrupt officials — former chiefs of the prosecuting authority.
On Friday, he once again testified that his gifts to the police commissioner were only innocent gestures of generosity. “I’ve given presents to friends before,” he said, nodding his head above the knot of a tasteful white tie.
“That’s just how I am.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/world/africa/19selebi.html?ref=global-home |
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