Battle over secret letter from Mbeki continues at Ginwala Inquiry

A desperate "sham" to protect national police commissioner Jackie Selebi from prosecution was behind the government's attack on the plea bargains used to secure evidence against the police boss.

This is how lawyers for suspended National Prosecuting Authority boss Vusi Pikoli have responded to the government's accusations that he concluded plea and sentence agreements with no regard for the public interest.

Pikoli is fighting to show the Ginwala Inquiry, which is tasked with determining his fitness to hold office, that his controversial suspension in September last year was re-lated solely to his refusal to back down over the Scorpions' corruption probe into Selebi.

Pointing out that the disputed deals with accused Brett Kebble murderer Glenn Agliotti, the alleged star witness against Selebi, and Kebble's security boss, convicted fraudster Clint Nassif, were concluded after Pikoli was suspended last year, Pikoli's lawyers said the claims were "utterly baseless", "irresponsible" and "spurious".

They also said the claims were "particularly alarming insofar as they suggest that the government's motive in doing so, is to protect Mr Selebi against the due process of the law".

Pikoli's lawyers further argued strongly that the decision about the correctness of plea agreements should be left to "independent professionals" and "not be usurped by partisan politicians".

"The fact of the matter is that, if the accusations against Mr Selebi are true, then he is at the heart of 'organised crime'.

"It is indeed difficult to imagine anything more subversive of the fight against organised crime than a corrupt police chief who is on the take and in the pocket of organised crime.

"The accusations against Mr Selebi are, inter alia, that he took bribes paid to him for the protection of organised crime involving drug dealing and murder.

"It is difficult to imagine any public interest greater than to determine whether those accusations against the Commissioner of Police are true and, if they are, to ensure that he is prosecuted, convicted and severely punished," Pik-oli's legal team argued.

They added: "They (the government) seem to be particularly offended by the fact that one of the reasons for the agreements with Messrs Nassif and Agliotti was to secure their co-operation in the investigation of Mr Selebi.

"The government seems to suggest that Messrs Nassif and Agliotti are part of 'organised crime' but Mr Selebi is not.

"It is always wrong of the government to interfere with the prosecuting authority in the performance of these functions. It is particularly so when it appears to be done to protect a powerful friend of the hovernment.

"The government's blatant attempts to protect Mr Selebi, even in this enquiry, moreover corroborates Mr Pikoli's inference that this was also the real reason for his suspension. It was done to protect Mr Selebi. It had nothing to do with Mr Pikoli's fitness for office. The government's suggestions to the contrary are a sham."

Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla had ordered prosecuting boss Vusi Pikoli not to arrest or prosecute National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi for corruption, after receiving a secret letter from President Thabo Mbeki.

Now, as Pikoli fights to show that his suspension by Mbeki was related solely to his refusal to back down over the Scorpions' case against Selebi, the government is refusing to hand over the letter.

The government's legal team have told Pikoli's lawyers that the document, the existence of which was earlier denied by Mbeki's legal adviser, Mojanku Gumbi, and Justice director-general Menzi Simelane, is "privileged".

Yesterday Pikoli's counsel, Wim Trengove SC, blasted this explanation and said the government had yet to "advance any coherent reason (for its refusal to hand over the letter) that the rest of us can coherently debate".

Sent days after the Scorpions obtained an arrest and search warrant against Selebi, Mbeki's letter was due to be the subject of argument between the government and Pikoli's legal teams today, the second day of the Ginwala Commission investigating Pikoli's fitness to hold office .

With acknowledgements to Cape Argus.