Former police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi will only know on Friday whether he is guilty of corruption.
Judge Meyer Joffe announced just before lunch on Thursday that it would take more than a day for him to read his judgement.
On Thursday afternoon Joffe continued recounting the evidence surrounding payments of R1,2-million that drug dealer Glenn Agliotti allegedly made to Selebi between 2004 and 2006. Joffe also ruled that the January 2006 DVD, in which Agliotti met with former crime intelligence boss Mulangi Mphego, would be admitted. It was previously admitted only provisionally. In the video, Agliotti claims that he never paid any money to Selebi.
“When balancing the interests, the scale must favour the accused,” said Joffe. “If the DVD goes a long way in establishing his innocence, it would be unfair to discount in from evidence. The video evidence is ruled to be admissable.”
‘Generally corrupt relationship’
The state is claiming that Selebi took more than R1,2-million from Agliotti, and received expensive gifts of clothing, in what was a “generally corrupt relationship”. Selebi is also accused of defeating the ends of justice by showing Agliotti secret police reports.
The trial has been dramatic — Agliotti cried on the stand when talking about the pain he felt at testifying against his “friend”, and Selebi was accused of creating “cut and paste documents” to show in court.
Joffe has had a fraught relationship with both state prosecutor Gerrie Nel and defence counsel Jaap Cilliers, sometimes struggling to hide his agitation at Nel’s fumbles, and “taking umbrage” with Cilliers’s regular protests.
‘Lying witness’
While the defence claimed that Agliotti, the state’s main witness, was “untruthful” and obsessed with self-progress, the state accused Selebi of being a “lying witness”.
Selebi changed his versions before the court several times and met with a state witness while the state was still presenting its case. This led to a distant relationship between Selebi and his counsel, with Cilliers ultimately abandoning Selebi’s evidence in his closing arguments.
Cilliers, claiming that Selebi was the victim of a “malicious prosecution”, maintains that Selebi never received a single payment from Agliotti.
However, the state’s strongest witness, Agliotti’s former fiancée Dianne Muller, says she witnessed money changing hands between Selebi and Agliotti, which was contained in a brown paper bag.