Man charged says Kebble planned his own murder

The man accused of murdering South African mining mogul Brett Kebble last year claims Kebble’s death was actually an assisted suicide.

Glenn Agliotti, a business associate of Kebble, was released from jail Dec. 14 on about $82,000 bail after being arrested on charges of murder and conspiracy to murder Kebble.

During the bail hearing, Agliotti stated in an affidavit that Kebble had originally wanted to kill himself by drugging the pilot of his airplane.

“After I became involved, it was decided to rather make his death look like a carjacking,” the affidavit states. “After numerous dry runs and plans, he was killed in this manner by persons who have been identified by the state and apparently granted Section 204 indemnity for the roles they played.”

Kebble was gunned down while driving his car through a Johannesburg suburb on Sept. 27, 2005.

Four weeks before his death, Kebble had been forced to resign as CEO of the mining companies JCI, Randgold & Exploration (both delisted) and Western Areas (WARSF-O, WAR-J). A regulatory filing of Randgold Resources (RRS-L, GOLD-Q) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission found that R&E had just a 6.7% interest in the company, not the 31% stake R&E had claimed.

South Africa’s Directorate of Special Operations, known as the Scorpions, is still investigating the covert sale of shares and the siphoning off of the proceeds — suspected to total more than US$225 million — shortly before Kebble’s death, which could be a motive for the murder.

Shortly before he died, Kebble became a “born again” Christian — baptized in the swimming pool of a business associate, a Bloomberg.com story says.

According to the Sunday Tribune, Kebble, married with four children, took out an extra life insurance policy worth about $5 million a few weeks before his death.

The article cited “police sources” that said Kebble asked Agliotti to arrange his murder so that his wife would be able to collect the policy, freeing her of personal debt. In return for organizing his death Kebble would clear Agliotti of fraud charges.

Kebble’s brother Guy, as well as friends, say they don’t believe Kebble wanted to kill himself.

Since Kebble’s murder, a much bigger web of criminal influence reaching into the higher levels of law enforcement, government and business has begun to unfold.

Agliotti is a known friend of national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Cell phone records showed that Agliotti and Selebi spoke to each other a number of times near the murder scene. Agliotti also spoke to Kebble several times before he was killed.

Agliotti is also being investigated for his role in a smuggling syndicate, says an Independent Online interview with regional Scorpions head Gerrie Nel.

Kebble’s former security guard Clint Nassif, currently out on bail in an insurance fraud case, was also a close associate of Agliotti. A Guardian Unlimited South Africa article discussed how questions have been raised about the investigation because the police gave Kebble’s car to Nassif the day after the murder. The article says the car was cleaned before forensic tests could be done.

A Cape Argus article says Kebble’s former business partner, John Stratton may be the only person who can elaborate on Agliotti’s claims. Agliotti’s lawyer, Lawrence Hodes says he will name Stratton as a suspect in the case, but it may take as long as a year to secure his presence in court because Stratton now lives in Australia, according to a Bloomberg.com story.

Cape Argus says phone records show that Stratton called Kebble the night before he died. The call lasted less than a minute before Kebble phoned Stratton back from his car as he drove to the spot where he died the next night.

Forensic auditors have confirmed Stratton was one of the beneficiaries of the fraudulent transactions that occurred while Kebble was in charge at JCI and R&E, the article says.