Drug smuggler says South Africa top cop helped him

By Peroshni Govender

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's former police chief warned a drug smuggler that British police were on his tail and asked him to buy shoes as a gift for the president, a court was told on Wednesday.

The trial of one-time Interpol president Jackie Selebi, who has pleaded not guilty to corruption, has shone a light on rivalries and sleaze at the highest levels of South Africa's establishment.

Glenn Agliotti, a convicted drugs trafficker and one of the main prosecution witnesses, testified that Selebi had shown him a report in 2006 indicating that he had been under British police surveillance during a visit to the country.

"It bore a coat of arms. To the best of my knowledge it either had HMS or Her Majesty's Customs," he said.

"The accused asked me if I knew these people and said I was being investigated, or my movements were being investigated, by authorities in the UK," said Agliotti, who himself faces trial for the murder of a mining tycoon.

Giving evidence for a second day, Agliotti said Selebi had asked him to buy shoes for then President Thabo Mbeki -- although he did not know what happened to the shoes after he had paid for them.

Prosecutors say Selebi, a former anti-apartheid activist who was close to Mbeki, had links to organised crime and received about 1.2 million rand from Agliotti to ignore drug trafficking.

Selebi says he is the victim of a conspiracy by the prosecuting authority. While acknowledging a friendship with Agliotti, he has denied any wrongdoing. Agliotti told the court on Monday that he gave Selebi envelopes stuffed with cash.

In exchange for his testimony, Agliotti was offered amnesty on charges including fraud, theft and money laundering.

SHOES

Agliotti said he had been asked during a shopping spree with Selebi to buy shoes for the former president.

"I bought shoes for the accused and one other person, ex President Thabo Mbeki. We were at Grays shopping, the accused said he was looking to buy a pair of shoes for the president."

"He indicated to the shop assistant that he needed to buy a size 7, if my memory serves me correctly, because the president had small and broad feet."

Mbeki's office was not immediately available for comment.

Critics of Mbeki accused him of protecting Selebi, suspended in 2008, despite repeated calls for his dismissal. Mbeki always rejected such accusations.

Mbeki was ousted last year in a power struggle within the ruling African National Congress. President Jacob Zuma, Mbeki's old rival, took office in May and named a new police chief in July.

Some 30 senior government and police officials are expected to take the stand in the Selebi case and the former police chief has threatened to expose embarrassing secrets.

Agliotti, the grandson of Italian immigrants, has been charged in connection with the 2005 murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble and goes on trial in 2010. His lawyers say Kebble's death was an "assisted suicide" made to look like a botched carjacking.