South Africa: Court Convicts Ex-Police Chief of Corruption

2 July 2010
allAfrica.com

A Johannesburg court has convicted the country's former national police chief, Jackie Selebi, of corruption.

Selebi was accused of taking more than R1,2 million (U.S. $155,000) from a drug trafficker whom he befriended. However, he was acquitted on a charge of defeating the ends of justice.

South African newspapers reported from the South Gauteng High Court on Friday that the trial judge, Meyer Joffe, in finding Selebi's evidence to be unreliable, said that "It is never pleasant to make an adverse credibility finding against a witness.

"It stigmatises the witness as a liar, a person of low moral fibre. It is a stigma that remains forever.

"It is so much more unpleasant to make such a finding against the person at the head of [the police]. Every person relies on honesty of policemen and women. He [Selebi] has not set an example that must be emulated."

Selebi was granted bail pending the resumption of the trial on July 14, when his sentence will be considered.

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