Rautenbach tells court no bribes were paid to Scorpions bossIn Selebi’s plea explanation, read out at the start of his corruption trial last month, the axed national police commissioner claimed that former National Prosecuting Authority heads Vusi Pikoli and his predecessor, Ngcuka, had “ulterior motives” in charging him with corruption.
Selebi claimed that Ngcuka tried to solicit a bribe from former Hyundai boss Rautenbach, and it was because of Selebi’s knowledge of this that Ngcuka and Pikoli brought the case against him.
The state alleges that Selebi received R1.2-million in bribes from Rautenbach, from convicted druglord Glenn Agliotti, and from slain mining magnate Brett Kebble in return for “favours”.
Rautenbach, a convicted tax evader who reached a deal with Sars two months ago and paid a R40-million fine, testified yesterday for the state in Selebi’s trial in the South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg.
Rautenbach, 50, told the court that he had not bribed Ngcuka.
“That is not possible. There was no bribe whatsoever,” he said.
On Tuesday, Pikoli testified that during a trip to Eastern Cape on police business in 2005, Selebi had threatened him with an “embarrassing” letter if they did not drop charges against Rautenbach.
Last month, Agliotti testified that the letter, a copy of which he gave to Selebi, was written by Ngcuka to Rautenbach’s London lawyer.
In the letter, Agliotti claimed Ngcuka said that a “mutually beneficial resolution” could be reached between Rautenbach and the NPA.
But Rautenbach denied this.
“I never met Ngcuka. The only thing I have is the letter and the meeting in Maputo,” he said.
Rautenbach testified that he wrote to Ngcuka about his legal problems and that a letter he received from Ngcuka was about “intelligence gathering”.
He said that shortly after meeting “two officials from Bulelani’s office and the National Intelligence Agency” in Maputo in 2000, the “NPA shut the door on me”.
Rautenbach said he was introduced to Agliotti in 2003 by a friend of his father.
“I [subsequently] met John Stratton [a business partner of Kebble] and Agliotti at Harare airport. [Stratton] asked if I had any dirt or bad information on Bulelani, but I said the only information I had was correspondence relating to the meeting in Maputo.”
At another meeting, Agliotti arrived alone and said “he needed R1-million to get my issue raised” with Selebi.
Rautenbach said he refused Agliotti’s offer.
Rautenbach’s former business partner and lawyer, James Tidmarsh, met Agliotti and Selebi in South Africa on Rautenbach’s behalf and then flew to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to brief him.
The two decided to pay Agliotti the “exorbitant fee” of $100,000 because he was “obviously connected”.
“Agliotti managed to at least raise [Rautenbach’s criminal case] with the commissioner at that time. That was very important for us,” Rautenbach testified.
Selebi’s advocate, Jaap Cilliers , suggested to Rautenbach that he had been “misled by Agliotti”.
Rautenbach responded: “He never told me he can’t do nothing for me.”
The trial continues.
Business Day (SA)
Post published in: News