'Rat' Nassif's credibility attacked

Johannesburg - The defence sought to dent former security boss Clinton Nassif's credibility as he faced a fourth gruelling day under cross examination at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Nassif is the state's sixth witness in the trial of Glenn Agliotti accused of orchestrating the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble.

He is a section 204 witness who may receive indemnity from prosecution should his testimony to the court be deemed truthful.

Nassif came under fire from Agliotti's attorney, Advocate Laurence Hodes SC, who has repeatedly branded him a liar, and on Tuesday, effectively called him a "rat".

It emerged in Court 4C that Nassif was a section 204 witness in a drug matter in 2007.

He subsequently entered into a plea agreement with the state on the same charges.

His sentence of ten years suspended for five was a "slap on the wrist", said Hodes.

'Turning on everybody'

Hodes put it to Nassif that the reason he did not receive indemnity in that case was because he had lied in his statement and the state uncovered this through the testimony of one of his trusted employees.

Nassif denied this saying he was advised by his attorney to enter into the plea agreement because he had left out "detail" in his statement to the state.

"You call it leaving out detail... I call it being dishonest," quipped Hodes.

Pushed to the limit during cross examination Nassif suddenly stood up and asked the court whether he was on trial as he endured further grilling over the drug matter.

"I'm sorry my Lord, I must ask, am I on trial here?" Nassif said.

Judge Frans Kgomo responded that the line of questioning spoke to his credibility as a witness in the trial underway, and allowed proceedings to go ahead.

Hodes paralleled the drug case with the current one, accusing Nassif of "turning on everybody" to get out of trouble himself.

To which Nassif responded curtly: "Rubbish."

Lighter sentence

It also emerged that Nassif considered pleading guilty to get a lighter sentence for his involvement in the Kebble shooting.

Hodes quizzed Nassif about a letter his attorney had written to Kebble’s business partner John Stratton in Australia asking him to consider brokering a deal with the National Prosecuting Authority.

The subject line of the letter was “solution”.

"I believe that it is currently a good time for us to sit together and determine the right solution to these matters (the Kebble shooting and related matters)," read the letter from Nassif's attorney to Stratton.

Stratton’s attorneys replied requesting Nassif’s attorney, Tammo Vink, to refrain from contacting their client directly.

This took place mere weeks before the start of the Agliotti trial.

Nassif had no knowledge of this.

Hodes asked him whether he would have pleaded guilty to resolve the matter.

Nassif said he “considered it” and he had asked his attorney to “look into it” because he did not know how it worked. He said he would have gone through with a plea bargain to “help out” Agliotti.

Lived the high life

It further emerged that Nassif made some R19m from the work he did for Kebble who was his security firm's main source of income.

This led to some hesitation on Nassif's part when he was approached to help Kebble commit suicide.

Nassif lived the high life - he told the court he had many cars which he changed frequently, these included a Porsche Turbo, a Mercedes-Benz, a BMW X5 and two Hummers.

Nassif was the owner of a security company, Central National Security Agency - around 90% of his business came from Kebble.

As the afternoon whittled on and the grilling continued, Nassif's voice cracked and he sat slumped in the witness box - in stark contrast to Agliotti who scribbled down notes and sent notes to his counsel.

The prosecution, who have been largely silent during Hodes' cross examination, interjected at one point and asked that their witness be given some time to rest.

But Nassif said he was fit to keep going.

Hodes continued pointing out discrepancies between Nassif's first statement to the now-defunct Scorpions on the Kebble matter and his second one, given months before the trial.

Mumbled constantly

Around 15:30pm Kgomo adjourned the trial to give Nassif time to rest.

"I do not want to proceed with this matter when you are in this state of mind," Kgomo told the court as Nassif mumbled and constantly asked for questions to be repeated.

"We've done enough for the day," said Kgomo.

"Take my advice (to rest), I'm not forcing you," Kgomo told Nassif.

Agliotti was sombre as the day wore on during the second week of his trial in which he is facing four charges - two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one of attempted murder and one of murder.

In an adjoining court his one time friend former police commissioner Jackie Selebi heard his sentence of 15 years in prison.

Agliotto, who was a section 204 witness in the Selebi matter, had no comment on the sentence.

The trial continues on Wednesday.