Bosasa paid for travels of highly placed government officials – Van Tonder

Former facilities management company Bosasa CFO Andries van Tonder told the commission of inquiry into state capture on Wednesday that the controversial company paid for the travels of highly placed government officials.

However, Van Tonder said the invoices which were proof of these payments were destroyed.

A travel agent called Blakes Travel was used by Bosasa to book travels and accommodation for its business dealings, with “people within the South African government” benefitting from the travels and accommodation, Van Tonder told the commission.

Bosasa paid for these travels and for the accommodation, however, during the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation, the company’s CEO, Gavin Watson, then instructed Van Tonder to destroy the invoices at Blakes Travel that were proof of such payments.

The SIU had obtained information that people outside of Bosasa had had their travels and accommodation paid for by the company.

However, the proof, Van Tonder said, was destroyed before the SIU could get its hands on it.

Van Tonder said he neither knew the rank of the government officials nor their names, only that they were “VIP officials”.

He said he carried out Watson’s instruction by taking the box filled with invoices as well as computers at Blakes Travel to a hole dug with a TLB tractor opposite the Bosasa head office and threw these in the hole, fuel was poured over these items which were then set alight and thereafter buried with a concrete block placed on top.

Van Tonder said as far as he knew, Bosasa bought new computers for Blakes travel.

He said the invoices at Bosasa for the payment of the travels and accommodation were replaced with fictitious ones.

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