Former Interpol President and National Commissioner of the South African Police service was sentenced today for 15 years. Jackie Selebi was found guilty and convicted in July for receiving bribes from a drug dealer.
The sentence is the minimum recommended for senior police officers found guilty of corruption according to the BBC. Judge Joffe Meyer described Selebi as “an embarrassment” and a “”stranger to the truth”. Evidently, Selebi never displayed remorse and fabricated evidence in an effort to escape.
Jackie Selebi is one of the most senior officials to be legally implicated for corruption in South Africa. He had pleaded not guilty of all charges saying that the evidence had been fabricated because he criticized the Scorpions, a now disbanded elite crime fighting unit.
Convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti reportedly paid Selebi 1.2 million rand ($156,000) to turn a blind eye to his business.
Selebi admitted to being good friends with Agliotti, but stated he was completely unaware of his criminal dealings.
This was a definite fall from grace for Selebi. For three years he served as the South African Ambassador and a Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In ’98, Selebi received a Human Rights Award from the International Service for Human Rights. And in 2004, he was elected as President of Interpol – a position he held until 2008.
