Selebi finances under spotlight

2009-11-09 13:58

Johannesburg - An auditor began unpacking the financial nitty gritty of corruption-accused former police head Jackie Selebi's monetary affairs in court on Monday.

Dean Friedman, a KPMG auditor, took the witness stand in the South Gauteng High Court and began going over a report into Selebi's lifestyle as well as the Spring Lights account.

Slain mining magnate Brett Kebble and his associate John Stratton allegedly used the bank account of a company called Spring Lights to send Selebi's former self-proclaimed friend Glenn Agliotti payments.

Agliotti, a convicted drug trafficker turned State witness, previously testified that he asked Kebble and Stratton for a $1m "consultancy fee" for access to Selebi.

Selebi 'spending less'

Friedman testified KPMG was involved in an "Empire K" investigation into the financial affairs of Kebble and Stratton's company JCI, when it was asked to investigate Selebi's financial affairs as well.

During this investigation, "we received information that there was something untoward in Spring Lights and it was explained that Glenn Agliotti was the man to contact".

During a meeting with Agliotti, the auditing team was referred to Kebble's ex-security head Clinton Nassiff.

Friedman said the audit looked into Selebi's cheque account and credit cards between 2004 and 2006. He said from January 2005, there was less expenditure in the cheque account. He said this could because Selebi was not spending less money, but had "other sources".

Friedman said "we were then referred to statements of Mr Agliotti in which he indicated cash payments to Mr Selebi".

The auditor, dressed in a black suit and speaking so softly he was almost inaudible to the public gallery, then turned to the report into the Spring Lights account.

Cash cheques

Auditors looked at various cash cheques from the account. Friedman said he went through counterfoils of cheques marked "JS", "Chief" and "c.o.p".

"John Stratton shares the same first initials as Selebi," he commented about the cheques initialled "JS".

As to the c.o.p cheques, "we assume that c.o.p may either mean cop or it could mean commissioner of police".

Friedman said the cheques marked "chief" were also included in their report through a suspicion they could be connected to Selebi.

"We understood from Mr Agliotti's affidavit that sometimes he made reference to Selebi as chief and on that basis that cheque was included."

Witness stand

Friedman is expected to have a long stay on the witness stand.

Agliotti's testimony lasted 11 days. His ex-fiancée, Dianne Muller, spent two days on the stand and her father, Martin Flint, who cashed the cheques from Spring Lights for Agliotti, a day.

The trial entered its fifth week on Monday.

Selebi faces a charge of corruption and another of defeating the ends of justice in connection with at least R1.2m he allegedly received from Agliotti and others in return for favours.

- SAPA