Former Head of Interpol Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Accepting Bribes from the Mafia

A former top South African cop who was the country's national police commissioner for eight years has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for corruption by the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday, reports said.

Photo: Former Head of Interpol Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Accepting Bribes from the Mafia

Jackie Selebi, who was also a former President of Interpol, was earlier found guilty of receiving bribes totalling $156,000 from a convicted drug baron Glenn Agliotti in return for turning a blind eye to his shady business, RTTNews reports.

Jackie Selebi, 60, was convicted in July after a nation beset by violent crime heard months of testimony about its top cop going on designer shopping sprees with a convicted drug smuggler.

The case against Selebi, a one-time president of Interpol, has been a chief exhibit in a national debate over whether corruption and political meddling are undermining South Africa's fight against crime. On Tuesday, Judge Meyer Joffe called Selebi "an embarrassment to all right-thinking citizens in this country," according to The Associated Press.