Oct 5th - Ousted South African police chief's corruption trial begins

Jackie Selebi accused of links with organised crime and taking bribes from drug traffickers

David Smith in Johannesburg guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 October 2009 12.29 BST

Jackie Selebi arrives at the Gauteng South high court in Johannesburg for his trial on corruption charges. Photograph: Halden Krog/EPA

South Africa's former top policeman has claimed he is the victim of a conspiracy as his long-awaited trial for corruption began today.

Jackie Selebi, the ousted national police commissioner and former head of Interpol, is accused of having links with organised crime and accepting bribes worth R1.2m (£98,000) to turn a blind eye to drug trafficking.

In what is widely seen as a critical test of South Africa's justice system, Selebi is accused of taking payments from a drug smuggler and his associates between 2004 and 2005.

Dressed in a grey suit, Selebi stood solemnly as two charges of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice were read out in the South Gauteng high court in Johannesburg. "I plead not guilty," he said.

His lawyer, Jaap Cilliers, told the court that Selebi was the victim of a conspiracy cooked up by the former chief prosecutors Bulelani Ngcuka and Vusi Pikoli. Cilliers said that Selebi's evidence would show how Ngcuka and his successor, Pikoli, plotted with alleged criminals to fabricate evidence against Selebi.

The trial was then postponed until tomorrow at the request of the prosecutor, Gerrie Nel. "We give the court the commitment that we will be ready to start tomorrow," Nel said.

Selebi has been an MP, a South African ambassador to the United Nations and the head of Interpol. The country's first black police chief is the most senior member of the governing African National Congress to face corruption charges. Charges against the ANC leader, Jacob Zuma, were dropped shortly before he became president six months ago.

Selebi was a close ally of the previous president, Thabo Mbeki, who was accused of cronyism for extending Selebi's contract even after he had been charged with corruption.

Selebi is accused of receiving payments from Billy Rautenbach, the former head of Hyundai Motor Distributors, as well as the late mining entrepreneur Brett Kebble and his associate Glenn Agliotti, a convicted drug smuggler accused of links to the murder of Kebble.

The investigation started in 2006 and Selebi first presented himself to court in 2008. The trial was supposed to start on 14 April but was postponed at the state's request.

Agliotti is expected to be the first witness in a trial that has been set down for five weeks.

Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/05/jackie-selebi-police-chief-trial