Telephone records by the State's seventh witness in the trial of Brett Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti provided further evidence security boss Clinton Nassif had lied. Details of phone calls between people said to be involved in the "assisted suicide" of mining magnate Kebble were presented to the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday by State witness Petro Heyneke, Vodacom's forensic liaison manager.
Nassif, a section 204 witness for the State, and Kebble's former head of security, told the court last week he was asleep the night of Kebble's murder on September 27, 2005. But telephone records show he made a number of calls between 8.45pm and 9.51pm that night. There was then a gap between phone calls until 11.06pm, when he called his business partner Stephen Sanders. He then called Agliotti.
Prosecutor Lethabo Mashiane asked Heyneke to explain certain calls made by Nassif to Agliotti and vice versa. The records merely indicate the duration of the calls and the approximate location of the cellphone used to make the call. It provides no information on who was speaking or what was said. Agliotti's lawyer Laurance Hodes SC pointed out that the many calls made between Agliotti and Nassif indicated they were not together - if contact was initiated by a phone call. He put it to Heyneke that police requested the records of "40, maybe 50 or even 60" telephone numbers from Vodacom through a subpoena. He asked her whether it "surprised" her that Agliotti's attorney, Robert Kanarek's number was among those police required records for. She replied it was "possible". He then charged that the State, via the subpoena, could gain access to information to "which they are not entitled". Heyneke could not comment on this.
Judge Frans Kgomo asked Heyneke whether Vodacom would provide the president's cellphone records, for example, if requested via a subpoena. She said it was possible as the company did not scrutinise who the number belonged to when providing the records. Heyneke also referred to calls made from Nassif's number to self-confessed Kebble hitmen, boxer Mikey Schultz and Nigel McGurk. Heyneke, prompted by Mashiane, detailed the times of the calls, their duration and approximate location.
After a slight delay caused by the public sector strike, the third week of Agliotti's trial resumed on Tuesday. The stenographer was apparently participating in the strike, but a replacement was found by 11am. "Where are my notes, are they also gone on strike?" quipped Kgomo when he sat down to hear evidence after the morning tea break. Last week Kgomo denied the defence a postponement. Hodes had wanted to halt the trial to approach the National Prosecuting Authority to have the charges against Agliotti withdrawn.
Agliotti is facing four charges, two of conspiracy to commit murder, one of attempted murder and another of murder. The murder charge and one of the conspiracy counts relate to Kebble's murder. He was shot several times in his car in Melrose, Johannesburg. Kgomo adjourned the matter early, and the court building was largely empty by 3pm. The trial continues.
Source: IoL
Showing posts with label Clinton Nassif. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clinton Nassif. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Kebble's dirty empire laid bare
Brett Kebble's former strongman described in vivid detail this week the violence and deceit that lay beneath the surface of Kebble's opulent life.
Clinton Nassif, former owner of the Central National Security Group, is the state's key witness in its case against convicted drug-dealer Glenn Agliotti, the only person charged with Kebble's murder on September 27 2005. Nassif took the stand in the South Gauteng High Court on Thursday.
He testified that he met Agliotti on the golf course in 2003, where they "started discussing business". Nassif told Agliotti he was "doing security, investigations". Agliotti told him he was working for Brett Kebble. A week later Agliotti invited Nassif to a breakfast meeting in Sandton. "He spoke about what he did for the Kebbles. I gave him advice about the things they were doing. He told me he was working with Palto, a team under [former police boss] Jackie Selebi. He told me he was friends with Jackie [Selebi]; they worked on investigations."
Nassif said Agliotti suggested that he should start working for Kebble and his business partner, Australian John Stratton, who they flew down to Cape Town to meet. It was agreed that Nassif and his security firm would do work for the Kebbles, but Agliotti told him: "I handle the Kebbles and Stratton. Any meetings with them go through me." At a meeting with Stratton -- at that stage a director of JCI, of which Kebble was chief executive -- he was told about the company's interests and where JCI's "problems were coming from".
Nassif was contracted to "get information and do surveillance", including "bugging people's motor vehicles" and tapping "many people's phones" for Kebble and Stratton. In one case child pornography was planted on a JCI employee's computer. According to Nassif, he was given a list of people to spy on, including former Durban Roodepoort Deep boss Mark Wellesley-Wood, Uranium One chief executive Jean Nortier and Randgold Resources chief executive Mark Bristow. "We had to get bank statements, keep tabs on everyone [who was] against them [Kebble and Stratton]," Nassif testified. He also told the Kebbles he could bribe prosecutors and magistrates. One case against Roger Kebble, Brett's father, "fell away and we got favoured".
Kebble and Stratton's alleged methods were at their crudest in the shooting of former Allan Gray chief investment officer Stephen Mildenhall, who flew from London on Wednesday to testify in the trial. Mildenhall stood in the way of a large Investec loan to JCI. Nassif said that in mid-2005 Agliotti and Stratton gave him names of people "who ... had to be taken care of". "In one meeting Mildenhall came up. I was informed by Agliotti and Stratton that Mildenhall was the real, real problem. Something had to be done." At a meeting at Stratton's Cape Town house, "Stratton said he wanted this thing done" and pointed a sushi knife at Nassif. Nassif said: "I wasn't willing to take on the job of killing Mildenhall." They renegotiated with Stratton and Agliotti, who agreed that Mildenhall should be "taken out of the system for three to six months".
Nassif also revealed for the first time that Brett Kebble's father, Roger, knew about his son's plans to die. After Nassif was asked by Brett Kebble and Stratton to find a pill that could induce a heart attack, Nassif went to Roger's house at night and told him his son had "crazy" plans. "He [Roger Kebble] freaked out, saying since he [Brett] was a teenager, when things got hard, he always threatened this [suicide] ... we left it at that." When Brett Kebble found out Nassif had told his father, "he blasted me from a dizzy height". Meanwhile, the M&G has learned that charges of tax evasion and tax fraud were laid against Agliotti at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria this week. They are understood to flow from a confidential inquiry by the South African Revenue Service into Agliotti's tax affairs, which the M&G revealed in late 2008.
The Kebble trial this week gave a glimpse into the world of South Africa’s short-haired musclemen, who kill for cash. And ruthlessly efficient professionalism was not a quality they brought to mind. The three stooges took the stand in the South Gauteng High Court to explain the murder of Kebble and the shooting of Mildenhall in 2005. Boxer Mikey Schultz, rugby player-turned-bouncer Nigel McGurk and panelbeater Faizel "Kappie" Smith took turns in relaying the muddled events that left Mildenhall shot in the shoulder and Kebble dead In chillingly calm tones they described the plans that led to the hit on Mildenhall, who was calling for Kebble’s removal as chief executive of JCI.
Smith, who admits to being paid for "intimidating people and beating people up", said: "We wanted him taken out of action.” McGurk referred to "taking him [Mildenhall] out of commission"; Schultz said that they "wanted him taken care of". The men did not know Mildenhall and, according to Smith, did not even know what he looked like. They weren't making any money from the job -- but the Kebbles' security chief, Clinton Nassif, assured them that Kebble would look after them financially. On the way to Cape Town, the trio's hired BMW 4X4 ran over a "little buck". They had left their cellphones at home to avoid being traced and had to use a payphone to contact Nassif, who drove down to Colesberg. The three hitchhiked a ride to the sleepy Karoo town and Nassif rented them a Volkswagen Citi Golf to continue to Cape Town. Once there, the Mildenhall shooting was sub-sub-contracted to "two guys at a taxi rank" in Claremont, Cape Town, for R150 000. Smith had found them through "a family member". The shooters staked out the wrong house for three days, mixing up roads with streets, McGurk testified. The shooters waited for Mildenhall to return home from work and shot him in both shoulders. Mildenhall, now resident in the UK, still has pain and has restricted movement in his left shoulder, he testified on Wednesday. The shooters kept Mildenhall's driver's licence "to prove that we had done the job", said McGurk. Smith threw the gun into the sea. Mildenhall's wallet and credit cards were burned under a bridge en route to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg, Smith dropped off his accomplices and then "went to fetch my kid from school".
Smith told the court that a few weeks later Schultz had approached him at his panelbeating shop to say: "Kebble wants to go." Through messages passed from Nassif through Schultz to McGurk and Smith, the three planned to carry out the "assisted suicide" of Kebble for R500 000 each, by feigning a hijacking. On September 22 2005, the night originally planned for the job, it was called off. "I was furious; it was the only thing on my mind all night. I even took a shower," said McGurk. At the next attempt, on September 26, Schultz's wife's black Golf GTI, which they used for the hit, overheated and they had to head home. Kebble was "furious" and told Nassif "we didn’t know what we were putting him through", according to Schultz. The next night, Schultz’s gun jammed at the first two attempts. On the third attempt "Kebble rolled down the window and that was the first time I ever saw him," said Schultz. "I pulled the trigger and the gun fired." McGurk testified he was upset that Schultz had told Nassif about the mishaps. "The car overheated, the gun jammed.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Clinton Nassif, former owner of the Central National Security Group, is the state's key witness in its case against convicted drug-dealer Glenn Agliotti, the only person charged with Kebble's murder on September 27 2005. Nassif took the stand in the South Gauteng High Court on Thursday.
He testified that he met Agliotti on the golf course in 2003, where they "started discussing business". Nassif told Agliotti he was "doing security, investigations". Agliotti told him he was working for Brett Kebble. A week later Agliotti invited Nassif to a breakfast meeting in Sandton. "He spoke about what he did for the Kebbles. I gave him advice about the things they were doing. He told me he was working with Palto, a team under [former police boss] Jackie Selebi. He told me he was friends with Jackie [Selebi]; they worked on investigations."
Nassif said Agliotti suggested that he should start working for Kebble and his business partner, Australian John Stratton, who they flew down to Cape Town to meet. It was agreed that Nassif and his security firm would do work for the Kebbles, but Agliotti told him: "I handle the Kebbles and Stratton. Any meetings with them go through me." At a meeting with Stratton -- at that stage a director of JCI, of which Kebble was chief executive -- he was told about the company's interests and where JCI's "problems were coming from".
Nassif was contracted to "get information and do surveillance", including "bugging people's motor vehicles" and tapping "many people's phones" for Kebble and Stratton. In one case child pornography was planted on a JCI employee's computer. According to Nassif, he was given a list of people to spy on, including former Durban Roodepoort Deep boss Mark Wellesley-Wood, Uranium One chief executive Jean Nortier and Randgold Resources chief executive Mark Bristow. "We had to get bank statements, keep tabs on everyone [who was] against them [Kebble and Stratton]," Nassif testified. He also told the Kebbles he could bribe prosecutors and magistrates. One case against Roger Kebble, Brett's father, "fell away and we got favoured".
Kebble and Stratton's alleged methods were at their crudest in the shooting of former Allan Gray chief investment officer Stephen Mildenhall, who flew from London on Wednesday to testify in the trial. Mildenhall stood in the way of a large Investec loan to JCI. Nassif said that in mid-2005 Agliotti and Stratton gave him names of people "who ... had to be taken care of". "In one meeting Mildenhall came up. I was informed by Agliotti and Stratton that Mildenhall was the real, real problem. Something had to be done." At a meeting at Stratton's Cape Town house, "Stratton said he wanted this thing done" and pointed a sushi knife at Nassif. Nassif said: "I wasn't willing to take on the job of killing Mildenhall." They renegotiated with Stratton and Agliotti, who agreed that Mildenhall should be "taken out of the system for three to six months".
Nassif also revealed for the first time that Brett Kebble's father, Roger, knew about his son's plans to die. After Nassif was asked by Brett Kebble and Stratton to find a pill that could induce a heart attack, Nassif went to Roger's house at night and told him his son had "crazy" plans. "He [Roger Kebble] freaked out, saying since he [Brett] was a teenager, when things got hard, he always threatened this [suicide] ... we left it at that." When Brett Kebble found out Nassif had told his father, "he blasted me from a dizzy height". Meanwhile, the M&G has learned that charges of tax evasion and tax fraud were laid against Agliotti at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria this week. They are understood to flow from a confidential inquiry by the South African Revenue Service into Agliotti's tax affairs, which the M&G revealed in late 2008.
The Kebble trial this week gave a glimpse into the world of South Africa’s short-haired musclemen, who kill for cash. And ruthlessly efficient professionalism was not a quality they brought to mind. The three stooges took the stand in the South Gauteng High Court to explain the murder of Kebble and the shooting of Mildenhall in 2005. Boxer Mikey Schultz, rugby player-turned-bouncer Nigel McGurk and panelbeater Faizel "Kappie" Smith took turns in relaying the muddled events that left Mildenhall shot in the shoulder and Kebble dead In chillingly calm tones they described the plans that led to the hit on Mildenhall, who was calling for Kebble’s removal as chief executive of JCI.
Smith, who admits to being paid for "intimidating people and beating people up", said: "We wanted him taken out of action.” McGurk referred to "taking him [Mildenhall] out of commission"; Schultz said that they "wanted him taken care of". The men did not know Mildenhall and, according to Smith, did not even know what he looked like. They weren't making any money from the job -- but the Kebbles' security chief, Clinton Nassif, assured them that Kebble would look after them financially. On the way to Cape Town, the trio's hired BMW 4X4 ran over a "little buck". They had left their cellphones at home to avoid being traced and had to use a payphone to contact Nassif, who drove down to Colesberg. The three hitchhiked a ride to the sleepy Karoo town and Nassif rented them a Volkswagen Citi Golf to continue to Cape Town. Once there, the Mildenhall shooting was sub-sub-contracted to "two guys at a taxi rank" in Claremont, Cape Town, for R150 000. Smith had found them through "a family member". The shooters staked out the wrong house for three days, mixing up roads with streets, McGurk testified. The shooters waited for Mildenhall to return home from work and shot him in both shoulders. Mildenhall, now resident in the UK, still has pain and has restricted movement in his left shoulder, he testified on Wednesday. The shooters kept Mildenhall's driver's licence "to prove that we had done the job", said McGurk. Smith threw the gun into the sea. Mildenhall's wallet and credit cards were burned under a bridge en route to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg, Smith dropped off his accomplices and then "went to fetch my kid from school".
Smith told the court that a few weeks later Schultz had approached him at his panelbeating shop to say: "Kebble wants to go." Through messages passed from Nassif through Schultz to McGurk and Smith, the three planned to carry out the "assisted suicide" of Kebble for R500 000 each, by feigning a hijacking. On September 22 2005, the night originally planned for the job, it was called off. "I was furious; it was the only thing on my mind all night. I even took a shower," said McGurk. At the next attempt, on September 26, Schultz's wife's black Golf GTI, which they used for the hit, overheated and they had to head home. Kebble was "furious" and told Nassif "we didn’t know what we were putting him through", according to Schultz. The next night, Schultz’s gun jammed at the first two attempts. On the third attempt "Kebble rolled down the window and that was the first time I ever saw him," said Schultz. "I pulled the trigger and the gun fired." McGurk testified he was upset that Schultz had told Nassif about the mishaps. "The car overheated, the gun jammed.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Friday, May 7, 2010
Jackson's underworld links surface
Police had not ruled out the possibility that the person who killed Lolly Jackson might have left the country, as their investigations continued on Friday. "We are considering all possibilities," said spokesperson Colonel Eugene Opperman.
The Jeep Cherokee that Jackson arrived in at the Kempton Park house on Monday, and which subsequently disappeared, had been found, he said. Police received a call on Monday night from a man saying Jackson had been shot and that he wanted to hand himself in. But, when they arrived at the rendezvous point, the man was not there. Opperman confirmed they want to speak to George Smith - a former police informer believed to be a Cypriot - about the murder. "Somebody somewhere must be hiding him," he said.
A photograph of Smith was splashed across newspapers on Thursday as police released titbits of information on the case to the media. His name was not on the Interpol wanted list by Friday morning.
Jackson, who owned a chain of strip clubs, was murdered in Kempton Park on Monday night. Theories on the motive for the murder read like plots in a crime novel, with money laundering, a debt dispute and a glitch during the purchase of a performance car put forward by observers. Google searches on some of the people quoted on Jackson's death in the various articles brought up stories of protection racketeers, "security specialists", drug gangs and other underworld activities.
Earlier this week police interviewed Czech Republic citizen Radovan Krejcir for over an hour. His lawyer Ian Small-Smith said the investigators were trying to "unravel the matter" with the help of Krejcir, who is on the run from Czech authorities for tax fraud after being sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. He was on the Interpol wanted list when he was arrested entering South Africa, and is in the process of challenging an extradition attempt by the Czech Republic. Small-Smith said once someone was caught for Jackson's murder, Krejcir would co-operate fully with a trial and denied a report that this may be in exchange for a deal that the extradition matter be dropped.
The web of intrigue even included a cross reference to the Brett Kebble murder, with an allegation by the partner of a former stripper that a Ducati motorbike Jackson owned was found at the crime scene. Small-Smith had represented Clinton Nassif, who has made a deal with the State in the case of the murder of Kebble in 2005. The accused, Glenn Agliotti, was convicted of drug trafficking and was now the main witness in the corruption trial of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Small-Smith had also represented State prosecutor Gerrie Nel, when he was briefly detained by police at one stage on the Selebi investigation. Nel, who is currently prosecutor in Selebi's trial, was never charged and was released. He has now been removed from the Kebble case.
Missing German businessman Uwe Gemballa's name also popped up in reports, with Krejcir saying he was supposed to have put up the money for a Porsche conversion franchise that Gemballa wanted to set up in South Africa. Gemballa disappeared after arriving at OR Tambo International Airport in February, and his company was put into provisional liquidation days after.
The Star on Friday quoted a man called Cyril Beeka as saying he had seen Smith on the night Jackson was murdered. A Google search of Beeka brings up stories on the Cape Town "escort agency" scene, his stint as an informer for the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe and a brouhaha over him accompanying intelligence boss Mo Shaik to the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane as a minder.
Beeka had at one time briefly employed Ukrainian Yuri Ulianitski in his security business, but Ulianitski then left to start his own business. Ulianitski was murdered along with his small daughter in 2007 as he faced charges of conspiring to kidnap and for possession of illegal firearms and drugs. Jackson was to have attended court this week in connection with extortion allegations relating to a dispute over a former stripper who fell in love and left his company but then her boyfriend allegedly had to pay Jackson money. But, the spokesperson for a bank that, according to one "this is the true story" whisper, may have fired a manager in connection with the Jackson money laundering theory said: "It could have been anybody. It could have been your gardener. It could have been my gardener." "I gave a waiter who was hitchhiking a lift the other day and next thing I saw his picture in the papers for murder. The man was sitting right next to me in my car. You just never know."
Source: News 24
The Jeep Cherokee that Jackson arrived in at the Kempton Park house on Monday, and which subsequently disappeared, had been found, he said. Police received a call on Monday night from a man saying Jackson had been shot and that he wanted to hand himself in. But, when they arrived at the rendezvous point, the man was not there. Opperman confirmed they want to speak to George Smith - a former police informer believed to be a Cypriot - about the murder. "Somebody somewhere must be hiding him," he said.
A photograph of Smith was splashed across newspapers on Thursday as police released titbits of information on the case to the media. His name was not on the Interpol wanted list by Friday morning.
Jackson, who owned a chain of strip clubs, was murdered in Kempton Park on Monday night. Theories on the motive for the murder read like plots in a crime novel, with money laundering, a debt dispute and a glitch during the purchase of a performance car put forward by observers. Google searches on some of the people quoted on Jackson's death in the various articles brought up stories of protection racketeers, "security specialists", drug gangs and other underworld activities.
Earlier this week police interviewed Czech Republic citizen Radovan Krejcir for over an hour. His lawyer Ian Small-Smith said the investigators were trying to "unravel the matter" with the help of Krejcir, who is on the run from Czech authorities for tax fraud after being sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. He was on the Interpol wanted list when he was arrested entering South Africa, and is in the process of challenging an extradition attempt by the Czech Republic. Small-Smith said once someone was caught for Jackson's murder, Krejcir would co-operate fully with a trial and denied a report that this may be in exchange for a deal that the extradition matter be dropped.
The web of intrigue even included a cross reference to the Brett Kebble murder, with an allegation by the partner of a former stripper that a Ducati motorbike Jackson owned was found at the crime scene. Small-Smith had represented Clinton Nassif, who has made a deal with the State in the case of the murder of Kebble in 2005. The accused, Glenn Agliotti, was convicted of drug trafficking and was now the main witness in the corruption trial of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Small-Smith had also represented State prosecutor Gerrie Nel, when he was briefly detained by police at one stage on the Selebi investigation. Nel, who is currently prosecutor in Selebi's trial, was never charged and was released. He has now been removed from the Kebble case.
Missing German businessman Uwe Gemballa's name also popped up in reports, with Krejcir saying he was supposed to have put up the money for a Porsche conversion franchise that Gemballa wanted to set up in South Africa. Gemballa disappeared after arriving at OR Tambo International Airport in February, and his company was put into provisional liquidation days after.
The Star on Friday quoted a man called Cyril Beeka as saying he had seen Smith on the night Jackson was murdered. A Google search of Beeka brings up stories on the Cape Town "escort agency" scene, his stint as an informer for the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe and a brouhaha over him accompanying intelligence boss Mo Shaik to the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane as a minder.
Beeka had at one time briefly employed Ukrainian Yuri Ulianitski in his security business, but Ulianitski then left to start his own business. Ulianitski was murdered along with his small daughter in 2007 as he faced charges of conspiring to kidnap and for possession of illegal firearms and drugs. Jackson was to have attended court this week in connection with extortion allegations relating to a dispute over a former stripper who fell in love and left his company but then her boyfriend allegedly had to pay Jackson money. But, the spokesperson for a bank that, according to one "this is the true story" whisper, may have fired a manager in connection with the Jackson money laundering theory said: "It could have been anybody. It could have been your gardener. It could have been my gardener." "I gave a waiter who was hitchhiking a lift the other day and next thing I saw his picture in the papers for murder. The man was sitting right next to me in my car. You just never know."
Source: News 24
Friday, January 18, 2008
Agliotti fingers Gauteng director general
Gauteng’s top official, provincial Director General Mogopodi Mokoena, co-owned a company with Brett Kebble’s murderer, Clint Nassif, and accepted a R250 000 cheque from him.
Mokoena’s links with Nassif were among issues raised by Glenn Agliotti in an affidavit the National Prosecuting Authority submitted to court last week in response to Jackie Selebi’s application to block his prosecution.
Agliotti stated: ‘Clint Nassif had a company with a member of the Gauteng local government [in reality, the provincial government] by the name of Machabudi [Mogopodi]. This was done, to secure other tenders from the government.”
Nassif and Agliotti were both involved with mining boss Kebble’s security and dirty tricks operation. Both have admitted to a role in Kebble’s ‘assisted suicide” and both have pleaded guilty in a massive drugs case.
Mokoena this week denied the company had pursued any government contracts and claimed that by the time he ‘pulled out” after the Mail & Guardian exposed Agliotti, Nassif and their links with Kebble and Selebi in May 2005, it had done no deals.
Mokoena also said: ‘If I knew who they were, I would not have met them or even had coffee with them.”
However, the M&G has independently established:
Mokoena accepted a R250 000 cheque from Nassif, supposedly to help him (Mokoena) buy a house at the luxury Zimbali resort in KwaZulu-Natal. Mokoena refused to confirm or deny this.
The company that Mokoena, Nassif and some of Nassif’s associates co-owned, the unusually named Add Kalusha to Legora Investment Holdings, owned major assets within Nassif’s Central National Security group. Mokoena claimed that if this was the case, it was after he had left.
It is alleged that Mokoena ‘pulled strings” to help a property developer acquire provincial government land by paying an ‘under the table” amount of more than R1-million. Mokoena denied knowing ‘anything about that”. He said he did not even know the name of the property developer, whose name the M&G is withholding for legal reasons.
Company records show that Mokoena, Nassif, and two of Nassif’s partners in the Central National Security group became directors of Add Kalusha to Legora Investment Holdings in November 2005, two months after Kebble’s death.
A source with direct knowledge, but who requested anonymity, told the M&G that Nassif wrote a R250 000 cheque for Mokoena soon after that. The source understood it to be to help Mokoena pay for the Zimbali house.
Mokoena refused to confirm or deny the payment, but reiterated that ‘Nassif doesn’t have any contracts from government, and I did not help him get contracts from government”.
The same source claimed that Mokoena had ‘pulled strings” to help the property developer acquire government land in the south of Johannesburg, and that the developer had made the ‘under the table” payment to be shared by Nassif, Mokoena and another person. The M&G has not been able to verify the allegation.
With regard to Add Kalusha, Mokoena said: ‘It was a company we were establishing to look at opportunities in general — We were going to buy properties. It was hardly six months. Immediately after that, when I knew who they were, I pulled out completely.”
Company records confirm that Mokoena resigned as a director effective May 31 2006, shortly after the M&G‘s exposé of Nassif and company. Mokoena claims that by that time Add Kalusha had done no deals and had no assets.
The M&G has established from a source close to the transaction that by the time Nassif and his associates sold Add Kalusha to Savika, another security group, it owned substantial assets in the security field, including the Central National Security group’s guarding, monitoring and response contracts and cars, radios and firearms.
This was about four months after Mokoena resigned, company records show.
Mokoena claimed that if Add Kalusha had such assets it would have acquired them after he left. This is partly contradicted by a businessman who knew Nassif well. He told the M&G his understanding was that ‘Mogopodi was supposed to be a shareholder in CNSG [Central National Security Group]”.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Mokoena’s links with Nassif were among issues raised by Glenn Agliotti in an affidavit the National Prosecuting Authority submitted to court last week in response to Jackie Selebi’s application to block his prosecution.
Agliotti stated: ‘Clint Nassif had a company with a member of the Gauteng local government [in reality, the provincial government] by the name of Machabudi [Mogopodi]. This was done, to secure other tenders from the government.”
Nassif and Agliotti were both involved with mining boss Kebble’s security and dirty tricks operation. Both have admitted to a role in Kebble’s ‘assisted suicide” and both have pleaded guilty in a massive drugs case.
Mokoena this week denied the company had pursued any government contracts and claimed that by the time he ‘pulled out” after the Mail & Guardian exposed Agliotti, Nassif and their links with Kebble and Selebi in May 2005, it had done no deals.
Mokoena also said: ‘If I knew who they were, I would not have met them or even had coffee with them.”
However, the M&G has independently established:
Mokoena accepted a R250 000 cheque from Nassif, supposedly to help him (Mokoena) buy a house at the luxury Zimbali resort in KwaZulu-Natal. Mokoena refused to confirm or deny this.
The company that Mokoena, Nassif and some of Nassif’s associates co-owned, the unusually named Add Kalusha to Legora Investment Holdings, owned major assets within Nassif’s Central National Security group. Mokoena claimed that if this was the case, it was after he had left.
It is alleged that Mokoena ‘pulled strings” to help a property developer acquire provincial government land by paying an ‘under the table” amount of more than R1-million. Mokoena denied knowing ‘anything about that”. He said he did not even know the name of the property developer, whose name the M&G is withholding for legal reasons.
Company records show that Mokoena, Nassif, and two of Nassif’s partners in the Central National Security group became directors of Add Kalusha to Legora Investment Holdings in November 2005, two months after Kebble’s death.
A source with direct knowledge, but who requested anonymity, told the M&G that Nassif wrote a R250 000 cheque for Mokoena soon after that. The source understood it to be to help Mokoena pay for the Zimbali house.
Mokoena refused to confirm or deny the payment, but reiterated that ‘Nassif doesn’t have any contracts from government, and I did not help him get contracts from government”.
The same source claimed that Mokoena had ‘pulled strings” to help the property developer acquire government land in the south of Johannesburg, and that the developer had made the ‘under the table” payment to be shared by Nassif, Mokoena and another person. The M&G has not been able to verify the allegation.
With regard to Add Kalusha, Mokoena said: ‘It was a company we were establishing to look at opportunities in general — We were going to buy properties. It was hardly six months. Immediately after that, when I knew who they were, I pulled out completely.”
Company records confirm that Mokoena resigned as a director effective May 31 2006, shortly after the M&G‘s exposé of Nassif and company. Mokoena claims that by that time Add Kalusha had done no deals and had no assets.
The M&G has established from a source close to the transaction that by the time Nassif and his associates sold Add Kalusha to Savika, another security group, it owned substantial assets in the security field, including the Central National Security group’s guarding, monitoring and response contracts and cars, radios and firearms.
This was about four months after Mokoena resigned, company records show.
Mokoena claimed that if Add Kalusha had such assets it would have acquired them after he left. This is partly contradicted by a businessman who knew Nassif well. He told the M&G his understanding was that ‘Mogopodi was supposed to be a shareholder in CNSG [Central National Security Group]”.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Friday, November 3, 2006
Kebble murder: The noose tightens
A Scorpions subpoena obtained by the Mail & Guardian outlines the full scope of project "Bad Guys" -- the elite unit's investigation into the allegedly criminal network surrounding Brett Kebble; the network's role in or after Kebble's murder; and police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi's proximity to the network.
The Scorpions' arrest last week of Kebble security adviser Clinton Nassif, although on a relatively minor charge, appears to represent a breakthrough: Nassif features in each of the main strands of the investigation. Nassif handed himself over to the Scorpions last Thursday after they had issued a warrant for his arrest. This was two days before he would have left for the United States, where, on his own version, he intended to set up a call-centre business. He had already sold some of his properties in South Africa.
Nassif is said to have also put his main business, the Central National Security Group (CNSG), on the market. CNSG was contracted to Kebble's former company, JCI, providing services ranging from physical security to intelligence and investigations. The immediate charge against Nassif is one of insurance fraud -- he allegedly had his Mercedes dropped by a forklift in 2004 to increase the damage after he had been involved in a relatively minor accident. He claimed R500 000 from his insurers. Nassif, who denies the charge, was released on R300 000 bail a day after his arrest. Bail was not opposed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), leading to speculation that he might have agreed to turn state witness in the wider investigation.
The first official confirmation of the extensive nature of the investigation appears in subpoenas issued by the Scorpions to potential witnesses against Nassif. The subpoenas were issued under a section of the NPA Act which compels witnesses to answer questions posed by investigators and to hand over evidence.
The M&G has obtained a copy of the subpoena from one of these witnesses. The subpoena states the project name of the investigation -- "Bad Guys" -- and then lists the offences being investigated: corruption, defeating the ends of justice, contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, fraud, contravention of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, conspiracy to murder and murder. The fact that the subpoenas locate Nassif's alleged insurance fraud in the context of this wider investigation is evidence of his central role in the network surrounding Kebble, and the fact that the Scorpions regard his arrest as a stepping stone to solving much more serious crimes.
The central strands under investigation in project "Bad Guys", and Nassif's alleged connection with them, are as follows:
Conspiracy to murder and murder
The role of Nassif and CNSG in the removal of Kebble's car from police custody the day after he was murdered -- allegedly to be cleaned, and before police had conducted a proper forensic investigation -- suggests an attempt at a cover-up after the murder.
Noteworthy in this episode is the confusion between the roles of the police and of operators in Nassif's CNSG in the early stages of the murder investigation.
From the Scorpions' subpoena and the context it is clear that project "Bad Guys" includes an investigation of the Kebble murder. This raises the possibility that the Scorpions believe Kebble was killed by members of the network he had assembled around him.
Corruption
For some time, the M&G has known of allegations, derived inter alia from reports of an informer close to CNSG, that Nassif and others in the network had paid Selebi. The Sunday Times brought this allegation into the open last weekend, adding that "police have repudiated this claim".
The M&G is not aware of a direct relationship between Nassif and Selebi.
However, Nassif's empowerment partner at CNSG used to be Nontombi Matshoba, Selebi's African National Congress secretary before he entered government in 1994.
Nassif is close to Glenn Agliotti, who also consulted for JCI under Kebble. Agliotti is the businessperson -- and drug smuggling suspect -- whom Selebi has described as "my friend, finish and klaar". Selebi has subsequently tried to downplay their relationship, while Agliotti has denied involvement in crime.
According to one source with intimate knowledge of CNSG, Nassif and Agliotti were introduced to JCI by Paul Stemmet, whose security company, Palto, controversially performed undercover operations for police.
Stemmet habitually boasted he was acting under Selebi's authority. Several sources have said Nassif and Agliotti later fell out with Stemmet.
The M&G has repeatedly underscored the Scorpions' interest in the relationship between Selebi and members of the network. The implication is that Selebi is under investigation.
However, Selebi has told the M&G that he has nothing to fear. "I still insist that if the Scorpions come here with an investigation against me, I am not concerned. I know these hands are not dirty."
Drug trafficking and organised crime
The M&G has reported extensively on the relationship between a major Scorpions drug bust in July and the wider investigation now known to be project "Bad Guys".
Scorpions investigators -- the same as those looking at the network around Kebble -- arrested five suspected members of an international drug syndicate, confiscating hashish and compressed dagga with a street value of between R100-million and R200-million. Key among those arrested was Stephanos Paparas, who has links with Agliotti.
From Scorpions court papers it emerged that they regarded "the Landlord" - Agliotti's code name - as a boss of the drugs syndicate. They have since searched Agliotti's home and business premises.
The wording of the search warrant, obtained by the M&G, makes it clear the investigation also encompassed the role of Stemmet and senior police persons.
Nassif and Agliotti's relationship is believed to have extended well beyond their work for JCI under Kebble. In an affidavit submitted to the Randburg Regional Court last Friday in support of his bail application, Nassif described his plan to set up a call-centre business in Los Angeles and described a visit to the US in July. Several sources confirm Agliotti joined Nassif on that trip.
Nassif's lawyer, Tammo Vink, said M&G questions could not be considered in the available time.
Nassif's cover-up?
It is little surprise that Nassif now features in the Scorpions investigation of the Kebble murder -- his role in the aftermath of the killing was almost immediately controversial. Nassif's actions regarding the car Kebble was driving when he was shot looked like an attempt to prevent a proper forensic examination, though Nassif has defended his actions as entirely innocent.
The treatment of Kebble's Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the aftermath of a high-profile murder was extraordinary. Almost before the mining tycoon's blood was dry, the vehicle was removed from the crime scene to Wynberg police station, where it did not stay for long.
Mark Groenewald, a co-owner of Danmar Autobody panel-beaters, told the M&G that Nassif phoned him at about 11am, the day after the murder, requesting him to collect the vehicle. Nassif told Groenewald that Captain Henry Beukes would authorise the release of the vehicle. Beukes, it has since emerged, was an ex-policeman employed by Nassif. According to Groenewald, Nassif called later the same day, saying members of the Kebble family were flying into Johannesburg and asking that the car be given a complete valet cleaning service.
Nassif has previously denied issuing such an instruction. Meanwhile, Groenewald consulted the car's insurance agent and was warned against cleaning the car. It was therefore covered and left uncleaned. Groenewald said he was subsequently made aware that independent forensic investigator David Klatzow wanted to inspect the vehicle. Klatzow had been appointed by the Kebble family to conduct independent investigations alongside the police.
However, before the inspection could take place, Nassif phoned from Cape Town and attempted to have the car released to his employees from Central National Security. It appears he was aware of the attempt by Klatzow to gain access to the vehicle. Groenewald eventually released the car to the official investigating officer, Captain Johan "Dick" Diedericks, but it was reported at the time that an employee of Nassif, Andre Burger, accompanied Diedericks.
Klatzow was the first to raise the alarm about the removal of the car from the crime scene, and what he calls "unheard of" weaknesses in the police investigation. Klatzow says that when he arrived in Johannesburg three days after the murder, informers were already telling him about the involvement of Kebble associates in the murder. He visited the crime scene, and met with police ballistics and blood-splatter experts. "I discovered that they had not yet examined the car, nor had they properly examined the scene. They hadn't looked for spent cartridges by the side of the road, they hadn't looked for the weapon in the nearby stream."
Later that morning Klatzow was able to view the Mercedes for the first time at Danmar's premises. "I then heard that Nassif was having the car released to him, and I asked [Kebble adviser] Willem Heath to intervene. I wanted to examine the car the next day in the presence of the police experts, but they told me they had been ordered 'from on high' not to examine the car in my presence."
According to Klatzow, Heath's son Marius then called him to terminate his involvement in the investigation, on the basis that Selebi had protested to Roger Kebble about Klatzow's role. Selebi has previously denied this.
The ballistic evidence, Klatzow maintains, points to the probable involvement of people in the security establishment, who favour the kind of low velocity rounds which killed Kebble.
Source: Mail & Guardian
The Scorpions' arrest last week of Kebble security adviser Clinton Nassif, although on a relatively minor charge, appears to represent a breakthrough: Nassif features in each of the main strands of the investigation. Nassif handed himself over to the Scorpions last Thursday after they had issued a warrant for his arrest. This was two days before he would have left for the United States, where, on his own version, he intended to set up a call-centre business. He had already sold some of his properties in South Africa.
Nassif is said to have also put his main business, the Central National Security Group (CNSG), on the market. CNSG was contracted to Kebble's former company, JCI, providing services ranging from physical security to intelligence and investigations. The immediate charge against Nassif is one of insurance fraud -- he allegedly had his Mercedes dropped by a forklift in 2004 to increase the damage after he had been involved in a relatively minor accident. He claimed R500 000 from his insurers. Nassif, who denies the charge, was released on R300 000 bail a day after his arrest. Bail was not opposed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), leading to speculation that he might have agreed to turn state witness in the wider investigation.
The first official confirmation of the extensive nature of the investigation appears in subpoenas issued by the Scorpions to potential witnesses against Nassif. The subpoenas were issued under a section of the NPA Act which compels witnesses to answer questions posed by investigators and to hand over evidence.
The M&G has obtained a copy of the subpoena from one of these witnesses. The subpoena states the project name of the investigation -- "Bad Guys" -- and then lists the offences being investigated: corruption, defeating the ends of justice, contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, fraud, contravention of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, conspiracy to murder and murder. The fact that the subpoenas locate Nassif's alleged insurance fraud in the context of this wider investigation is evidence of his central role in the network surrounding Kebble, and the fact that the Scorpions regard his arrest as a stepping stone to solving much more serious crimes.
The central strands under investigation in project "Bad Guys", and Nassif's alleged connection with them, are as follows:
Conspiracy to murder and murder
The role of Nassif and CNSG in the removal of Kebble's car from police custody the day after he was murdered -- allegedly to be cleaned, and before police had conducted a proper forensic investigation -- suggests an attempt at a cover-up after the murder.
Noteworthy in this episode is the confusion between the roles of the police and of operators in Nassif's CNSG in the early stages of the murder investigation.
From the Scorpions' subpoena and the context it is clear that project "Bad Guys" includes an investigation of the Kebble murder. This raises the possibility that the Scorpions believe Kebble was killed by members of the network he had assembled around him.
Corruption
For some time, the M&G has known of allegations, derived inter alia from reports of an informer close to CNSG, that Nassif and others in the network had paid Selebi. The Sunday Times brought this allegation into the open last weekend, adding that "police have repudiated this claim".
The M&G is not aware of a direct relationship between Nassif and Selebi.
However, Nassif's empowerment partner at CNSG used to be Nontombi Matshoba, Selebi's African National Congress secretary before he entered government in 1994.
Nassif is close to Glenn Agliotti, who also consulted for JCI under Kebble. Agliotti is the businessperson -- and drug smuggling suspect -- whom Selebi has described as "my friend, finish and klaar". Selebi has subsequently tried to downplay their relationship, while Agliotti has denied involvement in crime.
According to one source with intimate knowledge of CNSG, Nassif and Agliotti were introduced to JCI by Paul Stemmet, whose security company, Palto, controversially performed undercover operations for police.
Stemmet habitually boasted he was acting under Selebi's authority. Several sources have said Nassif and Agliotti later fell out with Stemmet.
The M&G has repeatedly underscored the Scorpions' interest in the relationship between Selebi and members of the network. The implication is that Selebi is under investigation.
However, Selebi has told the M&G that he has nothing to fear. "I still insist that if the Scorpions come here with an investigation against me, I am not concerned. I know these hands are not dirty."
Drug trafficking and organised crime
The M&G has reported extensively on the relationship between a major Scorpions drug bust in July and the wider investigation now known to be project "Bad Guys".
Scorpions investigators -- the same as those looking at the network around Kebble -- arrested five suspected members of an international drug syndicate, confiscating hashish and compressed dagga with a street value of between R100-million and R200-million. Key among those arrested was Stephanos Paparas, who has links with Agliotti.
From Scorpions court papers it emerged that they regarded "the Landlord" - Agliotti's code name - as a boss of the drugs syndicate. They have since searched Agliotti's home and business premises.
The wording of the search warrant, obtained by the M&G, makes it clear the investigation also encompassed the role of Stemmet and senior police persons.
Nassif and Agliotti's relationship is believed to have extended well beyond their work for JCI under Kebble. In an affidavit submitted to the Randburg Regional Court last Friday in support of his bail application, Nassif described his plan to set up a call-centre business in Los Angeles and described a visit to the US in July. Several sources confirm Agliotti joined Nassif on that trip.
Nassif's lawyer, Tammo Vink, said M&G questions could not be considered in the available time.
Nassif's cover-up?
It is little surprise that Nassif now features in the Scorpions investigation of the Kebble murder -- his role in the aftermath of the killing was almost immediately controversial. Nassif's actions regarding the car Kebble was driving when he was shot looked like an attempt to prevent a proper forensic examination, though Nassif has defended his actions as entirely innocent.
The treatment of Kebble's Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the aftermath of a high-profile murder was extraordinary. Almost before the mining tycoon's blood was dry, the vehicle was removed from the crime scene to Wynberg police station, where it did not stay for long.
Mark Groenewald, a co-owner of Danmar Autobody panel-beaters, told the M&G that Nassif phoned him at about 11am, the day after the murder, requesting him to collect the vehicle. Nassif told Groenewald that Captain Henry Beukes would authorise the release of the vehicle. Beukes, it has since emerged, was an ex-policeman employed by Nassif. According to Groenewald, Nassif called later the same day, saying members of the Kebble family were flying into Johannesburg and asking that the car be given a complete valet cleaning service.
Nassif has previously denied issuing such an instruction. Meanwhile, Groenewald consulted the car's insurance agent and was warned against cleaning the car. It was therefore covered and left uncleaned. Groenewald said he was subsequently made aware that independent forensic investigator David Klatzow wanted to inspect the vehicle. Klatzow had been appointed by the Kebble family to conduct independent investigations alongside the police.
However, before the inspection could take place, Nassif phoned from Cape Town and attempted to have the car released to his employees from Central National Security. It appears he was aware of the attempt by Klatzow to gain access to the vehicle. Groenewald eventually released the car to the official investigating officer, Captain Johan "Dick" Diedericks, but it was reported at the time that an employee of Nassif, Andre Burger, accompanied Diedericks.
Klatzow was the first to raise the alarm about the removal of the car from the crime scene, and what he calls "unheard of" weaknesses in the police investigation. Klatzow says that when he arrived in Johannesburg three days after the murder, informers were already telling him about the involvement of Kebble associates in the murder. He visited the crime scene, and met with police ballistics and blood-splatter experts. "I discovered that they had not yet examined the car, nor had they properly examined the scene. They hadn't looked for spent cartridges by the side of the road, they hadn't looked for the weapon in the nearby stream."
Later that morning Klatzow was able to view the Mercedes for the first time at Danmar's premises. "I then heard that Nassif was having the car released to him, and I asked [Kebble adviser] Willem Heath to intervene. I wanted to examine the car the next day in the presence of the police experts, but they told me they had been ordered 'from on high' not to examine the car in my presence."
According to Klatzow, Heath's son Marius then called him to terminate his involvement in the investigation, on the basis that Selebi had protested to Roger Kebble about Klatzow's role. Selebi has previously denied this.
The ballistic evidence, Klatzow maintains, points to the probable involvement of people in the security establishment, who favour the kind of low velocity rounds which killed Kebble.
Source: Mail & Guardian
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