Word: agliotti
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...Johannesburg on Oct. 5 after nearly two years of court delays. A close ally of former President Thabo Mbeki, Selebi is the most senior member of the governing African National Congress (ANC) to go to trial on corruption charges, accused of accepting bribes from a tycoon murder suspect, Glenn Agliotti, and his associates in 2004 and 2005. The case is being seen as a critical test of South Africa's judicial system. Since being elected President in April, Jacob Zuma has vowed to clean up South African politics, firing and disciplining a number of senior civil servants. An impartial...
...trial began with the airing of some very salacious accusations. Agliotti, who agreed to testify in exchange for indemnity on bribery charges, detailed the types of payments he said he made to Selebi, including $150,000 in cash and gifts of designer clothes. "I made payments to the accused because firstly we were friends and I needed him in my business deals," Agliotti testified. At times, his testimony verged on farce, such as when he described going on a shopping trip with Selebi to buy a pair of small, broad shoes that might fit the peculiarly shaped feet of Mbeki...
...Agliotti said he was given introduction fees when he took other questionable businessmen to meet Selebi, including Zimbabwean tycoon Billy Rautenbach, who two weeks ago pleaded guilty in a Pretoria court to 326 counts of tax evasion. In return for the money and gifts he gave to Selebi, Agliotti testified, Selebi tried to influence police cases involving him and his associates and tipped him off about investigations and surveillance operations the government had launched against him. Selebi denies all charges. (Read "South Africa's Succession Fight...
...Agliotti is a familiar name in South Africa. He is charged with the murder of his former mining boss and friend Brett Kebble, who was a major donor to the ANC's Youth League, an organization that both Selebi and Nelson Mandela once led. Agliotti denies killing Kebble, who was shot dead as he drove near his house in Johannesburg in 2006, but has admitted taking part in what he described as an "assisted suicide." Agliotti has said that Kebble, who had severe money troubles, had wanted to die and that he had merely helped with arrangements. The case goes...
...during the investigation into Kebble's death that the hapless Agliotti's relationship with Selebi emerged. Selebi, who was the country's first black police chief, once said of Agliotti that he was "my friend, finish and klaar [done]." The two men now appear to be estranged. They did not look at each other in court, and at one point during last week's testimony, Agliotti seemed close to tears when he said, "It's not easy being here. I didn't want to be here to testify against my then friend and the accused...