Prison authorities must decide on Selebi, NPA says

2011-12-05 22:26

Johannesburg - Jackie Selebi's fate now lies with prison authorities, the national prosecuting authority said on Monday, after the ex-police boss was booked into Pretoria Central Prison.

"The prison authorities will decide how he should be dealt with from now on," NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said.

In a statement, the department of correctional services said that once Selebi was presented to a correctional facility, he would be taken through normal administrative and assessment processes.

"The assessment is focused on the security risks he would pose to the correctional system as well as an analysis of his personal and medical well-being."

Earlier on Monday, investigating officer Andrew Leask, who was in possession of a committal warrant, met Selebi and his lawyers at the Pretoria Central Prison.

He was spirited out of Jacaranda Hospital by wheelchair, through a back entrance, from where a white bakkie took him to the prison's medical facility through a side entrance.

Selebi, who was reportedly incoherent and disoriented on arrival, was being held in the prison's medical facility, accompanied by his wife.

Selebi's appeal against his corruption conviction failed in the Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday, which means he has to serve his sentence of a 15 year jail term.

He watched the judgment on television at his home and collapsed when he heard the outcome, his attorney Wynanda Coetzee said at the time.

He was taken to hospital in Pretoria and was supposed to have started serving his sentence on Sunday.

Coetzee met the registrar of the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday.

There was no court appearance by the lawyers, and the time the former police number one had to report for sentence was not extended.

Coetzee said a medical report indicated that Selebi's episode on Friday was as a result of a long-standing condition.

She would not say what this was.

Selebi was found guilty of corruption for accepting money from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti and for giving Agliotti benefits such as showing him a British drug investigation report.

Selebi was president of Interpol at the time.

The NPA said Selebi's lawyers approached it on Saturday to say he might not be able to present himself to correctional services on Sunday.

They were told to approach the court registrar.

- SAPA