High-profile names keep on tumbling from Bosasa black book

From disgraced former SA Broadcasting Corporation boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng to Andile Ramaphosa, son of President Cyril Ramaphosa – the list of high-profile individuals who have benefitted from Bosasa continues to surge, if this week’s testimony before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture by the facilities company’s former chief operating officer (COO) Angelo Agrizzi, is anything to go by.

Corroborating Agrizzi’s earlier testimony on how Bosasa was being run by its chief executive officer, Gavin Watson, Petrus Venter, the company’s tax consultant, described Watson as “someone whose instructions you could not question”.

Venter headed Consilium Business Consultants – a labour broker company that employed people for Bosasa.

“It must be noted that I could not question Gavin Watson as he would get upset with me. So I made the payments, even if I knew this was not correct,” said Venter about the string of bribes to individuals he was instructed to pay in 2017.

They included:

• Assisting former employee Lindie Gouws with R2.5 million towards the purchase of a residential property. Gouws later asked the transaction to be reversed and the money be returned to Watson, following a meeting with her attorney “paranoid about Angelo Agrizzi”.
• Legal costs of R1 187 666.82 for Motsoeneng in two instalments of R600 000 and R587 656. 82, paid to Majavu Attorneys.
• An amount of R500 000 deposited to the Absa bank account of the Andile Ramaphosa Foundation, a transaction Venter described as “strange”.
• Three payments of R450 000 made to Moroko Consultants, Training and Development.

Among his duties, Venter was also responsible for handling directors’ annual tax returns, which included those of former correctional services COO Patrick Gillingham and Linda Mti.

Earlier in his testimony, Agrizzi took the commission through his black book which he used to record all the names and amounts of bribes paid to individuals. It included Gillingham, who received a payment of R110 000 monthly from Bosasa.

Turning to how Bosasa generated revenue, Agrizzi said there were dubious schemes the company introduced, which included the use of Jumbo Liquor Wholesalers as a conduit to launder money.

Others included the use of fake invoices, liquidated companies, ghost casual workers, employees’ funeral benefit scheme and cash cheques as part of a revenue generation strategy.

Agrizzi said he would not do anything without Watson’s instructions.

“He told me that my job was to make money and his was to spend it,” said Agrizzi. “The Jumbo Liquor Wholesalers scheme meant Bosasa would place an order for R4 million of liquor in one week. The wholesaler would then invoice Bosasa for R4 million and Watson would do an electronic funds transfer of the amount to the supplier.

“In turn, the supplier would pay the amount to an agent who would take his 5% commission fee, with the hard cash being brought back to Gavin’s vault at Bosasa.

“Strangely, no liquor would necessarily be delivered.”

To avoid tax implications, the invoice would be classified as “an operational expense”.

Similar schemes to launder money, said Agrizzi, were devised for a petrol station, a poultry and a betting company.

Besides cash, bribes also meant holidays, travel, vehicle repairs, and school fees payment to government officials.

Former Airports Company of South Africa head of security liaison, Rueben Pillay, have been among the beneficiaries, Agrizzi said.

The hearings continue on Monday.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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