SELEBI: New payola bombshell
Issue # 89 - March Print this article
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi received regular payments from a criminal syndicate that illegally shunted more than R2bn in hot money offshore, and flooded South Africa with smuggled grey electronic goods. Such is the sensational claim of the syndicate's discounter and paymaster, former Rosebank jewellery store owner Steven Ferrer.
Also on the syndicate's payroll, says Ferrer, was Gauteng's then most senior policeman, provincial commissioner Sharma Maharaj.
In addition, noseweek has learned that Selebi's alleged presence on the syndicate payroll was communicated to the authorities by another member of the syndicate as long ago as 2002 but no action was taken.
If Steven Ferrer's word is good, it seems that hard evidence could be on the way in the form of banking records. Ferrer's claims link Selebi to a loosely-structured forex/grey goods syndicate, whose doings we chronicled in noses 56,58 and 59, after its chief money launderer, Michael Addinall, blew the whistle from his prison cell. We knew nothing then of Selebi's and Maharaj's alleged involvement and their names did not feature in our reports.
In a plea bargain, Addinall pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering (see story in this issue). And in his disclosure document, Addinall writes: I knew that Steven Ferrer was the major discounter for a lot of companies doing grey imports. He was also a personal friend of Jackie Selebi and on more than one occasion told me that he was OK as Jackie Selebi was on his payroll.
Prior to his sentencing in September Addinall's disclosure document was circulated to advocate Paul Louw (senior prosecutor with the Scorpions), SARS investigator Johan Kloppers, and Inspector Angus Rheeder from the police's commercial crimes unit in Pretoria. Kloppers and his colleagues came to see me in prison and asked thousands of questions about its contents, says Addinall. But no one asked me about Selebi.
Thus the potential bombshell sank without trace. Within days of the document being submitted to the court, Addinall was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment five of them suspended. Although he had from his prison cell accused a whole gallery of rogues (nose56), Addinall is the only member of the syndicate to have been charged.
Then early in at Addinall's first appearance at the secret 152 inquiry into his connection with grey goods suppliers Playtime International and Atlantic Imports, curator Derick de Beer asked him to read his entire disclosure document out loud in court. But neither De Beer, SARS's attorney Chris Malan, nor the presiding officer, Master of the High Court Leon Krige, questioned the explosive reference to the national police commissioner.
Ferrer claims that syndicate payoffs to Selebi and Maharaj were made through him mainly at his business premises in Rosebank, Johannesburg. When South African businesses such as Hi-Fi Corporation gave syndicate members post-dated cheques for their grey goods, Ferrer would take the cheques and pay them out from his own funds, deducting 3% in commission for himself.
Ferrer fled South Africa for the United States in mid when he learned he was being investigated by the SA Revenue Service. Since then he has been living in Atlanta, Georgia, where he owns a jewellery and gift shop.
From a snowy Atlanta, the facilitator of immediate money says he made payments to the two top cops on the instructions of syndicate member, and serious smuggler, Imran
Outstretched arm of the law: Ex-Gauteng Police Commissioner Sharma Maharaj socialised with criminals and took bribes, according to Steven Ferrer
Ismail. Since Selebi was only appointed national commissioner in January and Ferrer fled to the US a bare six months later, he knew Maharaj best.
How Selebi appeared on the scene and what he was doing in order to protect Ismail, and how much he was paid, I honestly don't know, says Ferrer. But there were regular payments and I know Selebi also received gifts from Ismail.
They would be R10 000, R5000, R7000, those kinds of payments. That was through me. A lot of it was cash. There were occasions where Imran would say: Listen, Selebi's driver has arrived in Rosebank. Won't you do me a favour and just go out and give him this envelope?' That's how it worked.
I did keep certain records and on occasion I would make out a cheque so that I would have proof if it ever came to this. Jackie would often be with his driver. To this day it confounds me that the country is burning and yet he would come through in his BMW with his driver just to say hello to me.
I've got witnesses to all these things. Jackie Selebi used to come into the store and I had eight people working there. They all used to see him. I've got a photo of Selebi and myself at a wedding of family of Ismail's.
A third member of the syndicate, who spoke to noseweek on condition of anonymity, reckons he knows what at least some of the payments were for: Ismail and others were escorted by senior police officers onto flights in and out of South Africa, so by-passing customs and passport control.
Did Selebi know what was going on in the syndicate? Well, if you think about it, what would have been his reason for being friendly with someone like Ismail? Replies Ferrer.
Ismail was just an importer of smuggled goods, yet he had a relationship that is very hard to understand with Selebi and Maharaj.
Career policeman Sharma Maharaj was appointed Gauteng police commissioner early in 1995. He took early retirement in July and died following a heart attack at the end of that year, aged 55.
Maharaj and I were a lot closer than Selebi and myself, says Ferrer. I wasn't a friend of Selebi, I never socialised with him. I did socialise with Maharaj. He would also come through to Rosebank and collect the money.
Ferrer says that several payments to both policemen were made by cheque on the Mister Jewellery business account with Standard Bank. I've got records. When I was leaving South Africa I destroyed a lot of what might incriminate anyone. But I do believe that there are still some records and even cheque stubs and copy cheques.
I left South Africa in a hurry and I took whatever I could and made a fire and burned everything. But only because I started panicking about what was going on. I do believe that I have certain information that is conclusive to support the payments to Selebi and Maharaj.
I'm also sure there is a way through Standard Bank of getting that information.
(Standard Bank spokesman Eric Larsen says: Previously, bank statements and all client information were kept for up to ten years on microfiche. Now, and since all of this data is stored on a new RMS (Report Management System) that keeps it indefinitely.)
Ferrer says he has made two discreet return visits to South Africa. On one of these, in Maharaj invited him to a BMW launch function at Montecasino. We went there that night and we gambled. Maharaj lost a fortune about R12 000 and I had to pick up the bill for that.
However, in a personal crisis, the police chief proved invaluable. One of the issues I came back to resolve was my sister-in-law was getting a divorce and her husband wouldn't sign divorce papers, says Ferrer. I went to see him and it got out of hand and we got into a fight. I was arrested for it and was supposed to appear in court for assault. I went to see Maharaj and he managed to get the case dropped.
Looking back on the six-or-so years up to 2001 when the syndicate was in full swing, Ferrer says: These guys, it's unbelievable what went on and how, honestly, I enjoyed it. The sick thing is I enjoyed the contact. And this guy Imran Ismail, he's quite a guy; he's friendly with people that you don't often get to rub shoulders with. It was good living.
"Listen it's not as if I didn't know what was going on. It was completely irresponsible and I understand that. Because people like Selebi and Maharaj were involved made it that much more credible and easier, because I believed that I would always be OK.
Selebi would always make a point of coming to say hello to me. The last time I was in South Africa he drove through from Pretoria to see me at my store in Rosebank and all he got was a watch for his wife.
Ferrer recalls another, quite bizarre, meeting with Selebi. When I got to America I was approached by someone wanting to buy arms and ammunition from South Africa. Back in South Africa, I met Selebi at a gas station in Marlboro and he gave me a quotation for the arms that could be supplied.
So what was Selebi's role in South Africa's arms sales business? Ferrer declines to elaborate.
Why is Steven Ferrer blowing the whistle on Selebi now? The fugitive is desperate to return to South Africa and says he wants to clear the air. He explains: We moved to Atlanta almost seven years ago, but it's almost impossible to make a living here.
He claims he was offered an indemnity by the SARS in return for information, but despite phone conversations with investigators and emails between them, no indemnity has materialised.
And he's fallen out with his once close friend, Imran Ismail. On 7 April Ferrer had a taped telephone conversation with Derick de Beer, Michael Addinall's court-appointed curator.in this conversation, although not mentioning names, Ferrer let drop that two officials knew intimately about certain of the syndicate's dealings and that one of them was a very senior person. (He confirms now he was referring to Selebi and Maharaj).
De Beer played the tape to SARS officials and, within hours, news of Ferrer's indiscretion was leaked in detail to the syndicate smuggler Imran Ismail, then in Mumbai, India. A furious Ismail called Ferrer and warned him to keep his mouth shut.
I've given Imran every opportunity to at least clear the air. I was looking at protecting him, says Ferrer.in fact when the SARS were offering me immunity, I was looking at possibly doing this for both of us. But when he found out I was talking to them and he warned me not to give them that information; that's the last time
I've tried to make sure that Selebi and I stay on the same side, because I believe that he is the one that could actually see me right here. Ismail met with Selebi but I wasn't present, obviously, and I haven't spoken to Ismail since, but I gather that Selebi was angry and warned him that he had to contact me and set the record straight.
Ferrer's 19-year-old daughter is returning to live in South Africa. And Ferrer hopes that he and his wife Jaylene will not be far behind, indemnity or not. He just wants the syndicate's sordid secrets out in the open and to get on with his life. To this end, Ferrer has dispatched an emissary to collect those cheque stubs detailing his payments to the two police chiefs.
Between you and me, I've actually thought of coming back and facing the music, he says. I wouldn't like to know that I'd get ten years like Mike got. But if you're anything like Yengeni then you get out after four months. I wouldn't mind that. To clear the air, I can tell you I'd love a compromise. N
Also see Editorial and Addinall takes on SARS in this issue
South African Police Fraud Squad
South Africa
South Africa
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