Bosasa ‘burnt and buried’ the evidence
A trail of evidence was destroyed and a tearful 62-year-old Bosasa consultant implicated in the 2009 Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report into corruption, racketeering and fraud was flown into exile in the US, the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture heard yesterday.
Former Bosasa Chief Financial Officer (CFO) testifies Andries van Tonder at the commission of inquiry into state capture on January 29, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Van Tonder, who took to the witness stand for the first time at the inquiry, confirmed to the inquiry that he’s the one who took a video of Watson counting cash in a walk-in vault that was apparently used as bribe money. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Alon Skuy)
Former Bosasa chief financial officer Andries van Tonder, who played a key role in destroying invoices, purchasing vehicles, homes and arranging travel, told the commission he and chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi were instructed by CEO Gavin Watson “to destroy invoices relating to government officials at Blake Travel”.
Blake Travel held a Bosasa travel account and arranged flights and hired vehicles for government officials, paid for by Bosasa.
“One day, Gavin Watson instructed me and Angelo to drive to Blake Travel, collect all incriminating documents relating to government officials and other important people, as well as all computers. It was in the middle of the SIU investigation and we had to collect evidence and destroy it,” said Van Tonder. “We took boxes of invoices and computers, drove to an old mine hostel across from the Bosasa offices, used a tractor to drop loads of documents into a hole, poured fuel in and set everything alight. We later covered it with soil and built a concrete block over it.”
Van Tonder said that when the SIU began to implicate key Bosasa employees in corruption, fraud and racketeering after the company was awarded a department of correctional services catering tender, consultant Danny Mansell asked Watson to arrange for him to emigrate to the US.
“Gavin asked me to accompany him to ensure he did not return to South Africa. Mansell was very involved with unlawful dealings at the department of correctional services.
“The concern was that his passport might be blocked. Bosasa director Papa Leshabane made sure, through his contacts at home affairs, that customs officials did not block us. Danny was extremely stressed and had tears in his eyes.
“Through fictitious invoices from Mansell to Bosasa, purporting to be from a company called Safe As Fences, on the pretext it was a Bosasa subsidiary in the US, Mansell was paid $7,000 (about R95,000) monthly, as long as he stayed there and did not divulge anything to SA authorities.”
Frans Vorster, another Bosasa employee, said Bosasa assisted the ANC with a call centre for the 2014 elections.
“The request came from Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, who had a lot of influence and opened a lot of doors for Gavin Watson. On Gavin’s instruction, we assisted with the use of a call centre. We built a marquee, provided daily meals for ANC staff and a party when they won.”
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