Former Interpol chief convicted
A court in South Africa has convicted the former head of Interpol for accepting bribes from a drug dealer.
Jackie Selebi, also South Africa's ex-police chief, was convicted yesterday for accepting bribes worth $156,000.
The trial, which began last October, focused on Selebi's relationship with Glenn Agliotti, a drug dealer who took him on shopping sprees.
Agliotti himself faces trial later this year for allegedly murdering Brett Kebble, a mining magnate, in 2005.
The verdict was the cumulation of a four-and-a-half year investigation.
'MAJOR SHOCK WAVES'
"The fact that a man who was the former chief of police and the former head of Interpol was found guilty is sending major shock waves throughout the country," Haru Mutasa, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Johannesburg, said.
"Throughout the trial there was a debate going on about whether political corruption is hindering South Africa's fight against crime."
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Na'eem Jeenah, a political analyst and executive director of the Afro-Middle East Centre, an independent think-tank in Johannesburg, said: "I'm not sure that it will necessarily stem corruption which is quite bad in South Africa.
"But it certainly is a message that the authorities are willing to pursue these matters.
"The media covered the case from beginning to end, much of the media in South Africa, it ran on the front pages for a long time.
"And people certainly were interested if you look at the number of people that were reading these newspapers, the number of people that were calling into radio talk shows etc.
"The main reason being people have been sick and tired of the idea of government representatives, government officials, being involved in corruption.
"And here was someone that was very high, very close to the top, also at the time to the former president of this country."
'CONTEMPT FOR TRUTH'
In delivering the verdict, Judge Meyer Joffe said that Selebi had shown "complete contempt for the truth" during the trial.
Selebi could face 15 years in prison when sentenced on July 14.
Selebi had pleaded innocent to all charges. He said that evidence for the charges had been fabricated because he criticised the Scorpions, a now disbanded elite crime fighting unit.
The trial was wracked with political tension. Vusi Pikoli, the former chief prosecutor, lost his job for charging Selebi.
He was accused of failing to inform his political bosses before taking the sensitive step.
"The fact that he has been found guilty means that maybe something is being done in the country to stamp out corruption. Some people are hoping that this is a sign to come," our correspondent said.
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