National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director-general Manala Manzini said yesterday senior members of the Scorpions had lied to the police about the security clearance they had.

He was the government's final witness at the inquiry into suspended national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli.

But Pikoli's lawyers said in cross-examination Manzini was part of a vendetta against the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and trying to protect suspended police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Manzini said that of the nine people who conducted a search and seizure operation at the police crime intelligence headquarters in the Scorpions' Selebi investigation, only two had valid "top-secret" security clearance *1. Asked to complete forms and state their security clearance levels, they claimed status they did not have. Some had clearance only for documents marked "confidential", while the "top-secret" clearance of others had expired.

Manzini said this was "a deliberate attempt to mislead the SAPS". As head of the NPA, under which the Scorpions fell, Pikoli was responsible for ensuring his investigators had appropriate clearance.

He also criticised a previous search and seizure operation, in 2005, saying a private firm hired to aid the Scorpions was not vetted by the NIA as required by law. Even though the police had used this company previously, Manzini said it was "unacceptable and irresponsible" for that to be used as an excuse.

The Scorpions "ignored the law in this country" as they thought "they were the law ". He said their disregard for the law was "shocking" and "amazing".

Pikoli's counsel, Wim Trengove, began his cross-examination in line with Pikoli's overall argument to the inquiry: that the real reason for his suspension was his obtaining an arrest warrant for Selebi. Trengove sought to paint a picture of Manzini as someone who personally had it in for Pikoli.

He said Pikoli's argument questioned Manzini's motives, and he would submit that Manzini sought to protect Selebi, and was part of a vendetta against the NPA.

Steered by the inquiry's chairwoman, Frene Ginwala, a to Manzini's testimony, Trengove shifted to the legal basis for the requirement to have security clearances.

Manzini also testified that the Scorpions had engaged unlawfully in intelligence gathering outside its legal mandate. He referred to "the Malawi investigation", a request by Pikoli's Malawian counterpart to assist in an investigation into a plot to oust Malawi's president, and the "Browse Mole Report", which alleged Angolan and Libyan support for African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma's bid for the presidency.

Both investigations involved collecting intelligence, which the Scorpions were not entitled to do. Manzini said there was a pattern of the Scorpions "getting involved in areas that were not part of its mandate".

When asked by Trengove why his evidence was so "strident and emotional", Manzini said he was "a very passionate person about the responsibilities I am assigned".

With acknowledgements to Franny Rabkin and Business Day.