國際刑警組織以打擊跨國犯罪聞名于世, 然而現任國際刑警組織主席杰基?塞萊比卻因涉黑而被通緝。南非媒體報道說,南非國家檢察機構已經向警察總監，同時兼任國際刑警組織主席的塞萊比發出逮捕令。南非國家檢察機構拒絕評論這一消息，塞萊比的發言人也表示毫不知情。

Jackie Selebi, South Africa national police commissioner and president of Interpol. [AFP]

South African prosecutors have secured an arrest warrant for Jackie Selebi, the national police commissioner and president of Interpol, according to news reports here late Thursday.

There were few details about the case. Persistent news reports have linked Mr. Selebi, who is also a leading figure in domestic politics, to organized crime figures. It was not clear why Mr. Selebi had not been arrested or charged.

But the warrant, which the news reports said was secured by the National Prosecuting Authority, could be linked to a larger struggle within South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress, to determine the party’s political future.

On Thursday, Mr. Mbeki’s rivals questioned whether that suspension had been prompted by a decision by prosecutors to charge Mr. Selebi, a political ally of Mr. Mbeki and a veteran of South Africa’s liberation struggle.

In telephone interviews, neither the South African Police Service nor the National Prosecuting Authority would confirm or deny the warrant’s existence. The warrant was reported by SABC, a public broadcaster, and by The Mail & Guardian, a weekly newspaper that has aggressively reported on Mr. Selebi’s activities.

Mr. Selebi’s shadow in both politics and scandal has loomed large since September 2005, when a South African billionaire mining magnate and political benefactor, Brett Kebble, was fatally shot while driving in a Johannesburg suburb, in what may have been an assassination.

Investigators quickly charged a man suspected of being a drug kingpin, Glenn Agliotti, in connection with the murder, only to find that he was a close friend of Mr. Selebi. In fact, cellphone records indicated that Mr. Agliotti called Mr. Selebi from near the scene of Mr. Kebble’s murder shortly after the shooting.

Mr. Selebi later rejected demands that he resign, saying he was not tainted by mere friendship with an accused criminal, and Mr. Mbeki has defended him.

Some critics of Mr. Mbeki are now demanding to know why the arrest warrant for Mr. Selebi has not been executed, and whether the suspension of the Prosecuting Authority’s director, Mr. Pikoli, is somehow tied to the delay.

“One has to ask, is there a link?” said Helen Zille, the leader of the rival Democratic Alliance. “We must hear what the charges are against him.”

(New York Times)

Vocabulary:

warrant：逮捕證

Interpol：國際刑事警察組織（International Criminal Police Organization ），簡稱國際刑警組織。成立于1923年，最初名為國際刑警委員會，總部設在奧地利首都維也納。二戰期間，該組織遷到德國首都柏林，一度受納粹組織控制。二戰后，該組織恢復正常運轉，總部遷到法國巴黎。1956年，該組織更名為國際刑事警察組織，簡稱國際刑警組織。1989年，該組織總部遷到法國里昂。

magnate：大資本家，富豪，巨頭

kingpin：主要人物

taint：感染，污染

（英語點津 Celene 編輯）