Johannesburg - i: A man who "knows all the gangsters"
and isn't ashamed to cry, a fashion connoisseur with a rainbow
of ties, a kind-hearted gentleman and a convicted drug
trafficker.
These are among the faces the South Gauteng High Court has seen,
over 11 days, of the State witness in the corruption trial of his
once-friend, former police head Jackie Selebi.
Agliotti's friendship with the man he nicknamed "Jax"
and "Chief" began over charitable endeavours, including
the plight of ANC exiles and a police torch run for the Special
Olympics.
Selebi was his shopping buddy, but he also became his cash cow,
using him to obtain a $1m consulting free from slain mining magnate
Brett Kebble and his associates.
"I deemed the accused as a friend... obviously I used that
friendship for my own gain," Agliotti said.
Gifts
It came naturally to him to want to shower Selebi with gifts.
"Take it, fuck it, I am like that. You ask people like Jackie.
I have got a big heart," the court heard at one stage in a
2003 recording of a conversation between Agliotti and then acting
crime intelligence head Mulangi Mphego.
Agliotti maintains only innocent intentions underlay his gifts,
including a payment of R200 000, to the accused.
"I still maintain to this day that I never bribed the
accused." Agliotti said. While he never got a gift back from
Selebi, the former police chief did show him a UK intelligence
report tracking his movements.
This, Agliotti says, he simply took as a friendly gesture.
"When the accused showed me the reports, I thought he was
doing it out of friendship... I said 'thank
you'."
Friendship ruined Agliotti
Nevertheless the friendship ultimately ruined Agliotti's
life.
"It's a political game and unfortunately I got caught up
in the middle," he said in a recording played in court.
He got "tarnished", he said, because the Scorpions were
"obsessed" with bringing Selebi down.
"They fucked up my life, my business, my
relationship."
The friendship came to an abrupt halt after Agliotti's arrest
in 2006 on drug dealing charges.
"He never spoke to you, he never sent you any good wishes,
Christmas wishes?" State prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked.
"No," replied the man Selebi once called "his
friend, finished and klaar".
Emotional
However, three years later, Agliotti showed he could still get
emotional about the relationship, breaking down in tears in the
first week of the trial at having to testify against Selebi.
"My Lord, it's not easy being here. I didn't want to
be here to testify against my then friend and the
accused."
Courtroom 4B has over the weeks also learned of many of
Agliotti's likes and dislikes.
He favours: the National Intelligence Agency - meeting with them in
January last year to complain about a political conspiracy against
himself. Also on his 'In' list are his lawyer Laurance
Hodes, "festive" family lunches served up with wine and
the airplane shopping trolley in first class.
Besides purchasing two Mont Blanc pens for former Director of
Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, Agliotti told the court:
"I would buy all the air hostesses in first class
perfume."
Kind-hearted man
When defence lawyer Jaap Cilliers once put to him that Selebi
regarded him as a "very kind-hearted man", Agliotti
nodded vigorously.
Agliotti has however shown displeasure at any suggestion he could
have done something bad.
Referring to Mail&Guardian coverage of him, he told the court:
"They made me out to be the so-called big drug lord, landlord,
the mafia boss. It was all bullshit."
Also on Agliotti's list of dislikes are: the Sandton police
station cells where he once spent some time and the
"insult" that he would give a pen knife as a gift.
There appears little love lost between him and the Scorpions - with
a particular thumbs down to Nel.
"I don't particularly like Mr Nel and I say that with
respect," he told the court in the beginning stages of his
testimony.
Tendency to lie
Agliotti has admitted to weaknesses of memory loss and a propensity
to lie, sometimes.
"You take your mind back and you try and remember as much as
you can," Agliotti explained earlier.
"There have been inconsistencies in my statement. They are not
intentional."
Another time he admitted that "There are certain instances
when I lie."
Agliotti stands to receive indemnity from prosecution on various
charges if he testified "frankly and honestly". Whether
he receives this will still be decided by Judge Meyer Joffe at the
end of the trial, after submissions from both the State and the
defence.
As Agliotti's testimony ends, it seems apparent, that at least
once, Selebi was special to him.
Asked by Cilliers if he knew any other Jackies or Jacks, he said:
"Only [advocate] Max Hodes' dog", telling reporters
later it was a Jack Russell.
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