Pikoli 'suspended over Selebi'
2008-05-07 14:05
Johannesburg - The real reason for the suspension of NPA head Vusi Pikoli related to a criminal probe into suspended national police chief Jackie Selebi, Pikoli's legal team said on Wednesday.
"It was to put a spoke in the wheels of the investigation and prosecution of the national commissioner of police Mr Jackie Selebi."
This statement is contained in a submission by Pikoli's lawyers prepared for the public hearing into whether Pikoli is fit to hold office. His legal team provided Sapa with a copy.
"Mr Pikoli says that the circumstances of his suspension, its history and its aftermath, made it absolutely clear that there was only one reason for his suspension and one reason alone."
Mbeki suspended Pikoli as the head of the National Prosecuting Authority on September 24 last year and Ginwala, the former speaker of the National Assembly, was appointed on September 28 to head the inquiry.
At the time, Mbeki cited a breakdown in the relationship between Pikoli and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla as the reason for the NPA head's suspension.
Mbeki bowed to increasing pressure in January to suspend Selebi on "extended leave of absence".
Selebi was charged with corruption and defeating the ends of justice at the end of January.
- SAPA