South Africa Police Chief Applies to Stop Investigation Against Him

South Africa's police chief today asked the high court in Pretoria to block looming corruption charges against him, as the ruling African National Congress sought to gain control over an investigations unit targeting senior figures, including the new party leader Jacob Zuma.

The highly unusual application by Jackie Selebi, also the current head of Interpol, asks the court to prevent him being charged and to reveal the names of witnesses and their evidence in connection to his alleged ties to a convicted drug trafficker awaiting trial for murder.

The national prosecutor's office told the court that it intends to charge the police commissioner with corruption and defeating the course of justice. The ANC is struggling to rein in the independent investigations unit, known as the Scorpions, which has targeted Selebi, Zuma and other senior party figures.

Zuma was charged a fortnight ago with bribery, fraud, racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion. The new ANC leadership met earlier this week to discuss placing the Scorpions - a part of the national prosecutors' office rather than the police - under Selebi's authority after accusing the investigations unit of pursuing a political agenda against the party in league with the press.

It also alleges that the unit is staffed by investigators who served the apartheid regime and are pursuing a "reactionary right wing" agenda. Two days after the meeting, Selebi's force arrested Gerrie Nel, the head of the Scorpion's investigation into the police chief, accusing him of corruption. Nel said there were "ulterior motives" behind his arrest.

The opposition Democratic Alliance said it bore the appearance "of a witch-hunt to protect Selebi". The looming charges against Selebi relate to his relationship with Glen Agliotti, a convicted drug trafficker who is also accused of murdering a corrupt mining magnate, Brett Kebble.

Agliotti, nicknamed "the landlord" for his extensive role in South Africa's narcotics trade, last month pleaded guilty to smuggling two tonnes of Pakistani hashish into the country under a plea bargain that saw him receive a suspended 10-year prison sentence and a fine in return for agreeing to be a witness against drug syndicates. It is not clear if he has also agreed to testify against Selebi.

Agliotti is also accused of murder over the death of Kebble, who was shot six times in his Mercedes in 2005 by a team of assassins. Kebble is believed to have stolen millions of pounds from his mining companies and had close ties to criminal syndicates.

Scrutiny of Selebi's relationship with Agliotti began after it was revealed that within minutes of Kebble's death, Agliotti called the police commissioner on his mobile phone.

Selebi said Agliotti had driven to the site of the killing while Kebble was still slumped behind the wheel of his car and then called to request an investigation. Further questions arose when it was revealed that the police handed over the dead man's car to the head of his security firm, Clint Nassif, immediately after the murder and before forensic tests could be done.

The car was than cleaned, destroying crucial evidence. Nassif is a close friend of Agliotti and was recently arrested on fraud charges. Although Selebi described Agliotti as no more than an acquaintance, the Scorpions seized a diary in which Agliotti details regular meetings with the police commissioner.

Among the other evidence used by the Scorpions is a 144-page dossier submitted by Paul O'Sullivan, a former British military intelligence agent who headed security at South African airports until he fell out with the police chief.

It provides "evidence of a massive criminal syndicate, with tentacles into and out of Selebi's office" and accuses Selebi of "wining and dining the Mafia set" and of protecting criminal interests.

Arrest warrants were issued against Selebi last September but withdrawn after President Thabo Mbeki sacked the director of public prosecutions, ostensibly for failing to consult the justice minister sufficiently over the matter.

But Mbeki's critics accused him of misusing his power to block Selebi's arrest while permitting the Scorpions to lay charges against his arch rival, Zuma. The new director of public prosecutions convened a panel to reconsider the charges against Selebi, which decided the police chief "had a case to answer".

Selebi has vigorously denied any criminal activity but has never fully explained his relationship with Agliotti, who was apparently left untroubled by the police to help run a major importation drug ring and only brought to book by the Scorpions.

In his court application, Selebi claimed there was a "scandalous plot" against him, an accusation that has resonance in the ANC. The Scorpions, initially popular for their heavy-handed tactics in going after organised crime and major white-collar criminals, saw its support diminish in the ANC after it pursued investigations into Zuma and his former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, who is serving 15 years in prison for accepting bribes from a French arms firm and for bribing Zuma.

The investigations unit also filed the charges that saw the ANC's chief whip in parliament, Tony Yengeni, who was sent to prison for fraud over bribes from a weapons company.

Zuma's supporters are keen to follow through on a decision by the ANC policy conference last year to see the Scorpions stripped of its independence and placed under the control of the police commissioner.

After its meeting this week, the ANC national executive issued a statement that "expressed its concern and grave misgivings about the timing of these charges [against Zuma], and the general conduct of the NPA in this case, including inconsistency in the application of its mandate and leaking of information to the media". The national executive also elected Yengeni to its powerful national working committee.

Helen Zille, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, said Yengeni's election confirmed that the ANC "has been irreversibly captured by populists, careerists and convicted criminals".