De Lange sticks to guns

Cape Town - Former deputy justice minister Johnny de Lange says the conversation he had with the then head of the Scorpions, Leonard McCarthy, over a plea bargain for convicted drug dealer Glenn Aggliotti did not amount to political interference.

Aggliotti was offered a plea bargain by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in exchange for giving evidence against the country’s former national police commissioner, Jackie Selebi, who was later convicted.

But De Lange said on Sunday that his September 2007 conversation with McCarthy, in which he expressed shock that such a deal was being contemplated, was above board.

Then justice minister Brigitte Mabandla had received a report and had asked him to check whether it was true, De Lange said.

The transcript of the conversation, published by the Sunday Times on Sunday, forms part of a series of intercepted conversations between NPA top brass and other players, including former prosecutions bosses Bulelani Ngcuka, Vusi Pikoli and Mokotedi Mpshe.

De Lange tells McCarthy he had told Mabandla there was “no way” he could have struck such a deal.

Asking whether then NPA boss Vusi Pikoli and his deputy Willie Hofmeyr were “crazy”, De Lange says: “They let this f***ing guy walk and they try and pursue Jackie, who is a corrupt policeman according to them, assisting a syndicate, and let the syndicate walk. No wonder the president [Mbeki] is so angry.”

The transcripts indicate that Mbeki, in a meeting with former acting prosecutions chief Mokotedi Mpshe, wanted both Aggliotti and Selebi prosecuted.

Mpshe is reported as saying: “They say a confessed murderer, a confessed drug peddler, and we don’t prosecute him... If it comes to a push, let them both be prosecuted.” Mbeki’s spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, declined to comment.

A source who was close to the investigation at the time said the NPA had come under enormous pressure over Selebi. Prosecuting Aggliotti first would have meant less chance of securing a conviction against him.

De Lange said on Sunday he had acted in the public interest and would do the same again if faced with a set of similar circumstances.

“It was not in the public interest to let Glenn Aggliotti walk,” he said.

“People must understand that [Scorpions boss] Leonard [McCarthy] and the Scorpions were operating in a very hostile environment - they were under attack, they were being closed down. McCarthy consulted as broadly as he could,” he added.

Political Bureau