Gupta visits were for ‘cultural, religious’ reasons, Singh tells Zondo

Former Transnet chief financial officer Anoj Singh claims his visits to the Gupta family’s Saxonwold compound were for “religious and cultural functions” – not for business – and he claims he never made any money out of his association with them.

Under cross-examination by evidence leader Anton Myburgh at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture yesterday, Singh said he moonlighted as a financial consulting agent and was a casino and horse racing gambler, with many people requiring his services, because of his business exposure.

Pressed by Myburgh to elaborate on his sojourns at the Gupta family residence, Singh responded: “I would visit them on occasion – taking a very wild guess – probably less than 10 times.  The reason for my visits were based on cultural and religious functions that were held in the Indian community, where we normally invited guests. I had no occasion to go there for other reasons.”

Singh said his first interactions with the Guptas “would have been attendance to the TNA [The New Age newspaper] breakfasts sponsored by Transnet” between 2011 and 2012, describing his association as “not very intimate”.

He said: “I knew them but did not attend the Gupta family wedding at Sun City. I did not see a need for me to ingratiate myself to them and for them to do the same to me.”

Myburgh: “And what caused you to stop going to the Guptas in 2015?”

Singh: “At that time there were all these allegations and media speculation on the family and not that I believed that any of the speculation had anything to do with our relationship, or whether there was anything irregular.”

Myburgh: “Did you have any reason to reciprocate by inviting the Guptas to your house?”

Singh: “No sir, I did not invite the Guptas to my house. When I visited the Gupta Saxonwold residence, I would interact with Mr Rajesh Gupta and Mr Ajay Gupta.

“Religious events were attended by a number of people, with the one coming to mind being the Diwali functions…”

Asked whether he visited the Gupta-owned Sahara Computers offices, Singh revealed that his wife worked for the family empire.

“I had occasion to visit – but not enter int0 the offices of Sahara. “I knew where Sahara Computers was situated and would go as far as the business entrance because my current wife worked for Sahara.

“I would go there to drop her off. She worked there around 2014 and left there at about 2015 – worked there for a year or two. I never entered Sahara Computers offices.”

Singh refuted the testimony of Witness 3 who served as his driver and security guard from March 2014 until August 2016. Witness 3 has testified on how Singh received large amounts of cash from the Guptas.

Witness 3 said he drove Singh to the Gupta compound more than 10 times.

“In more than six or seven of the visits to the Guptas house, Mr Singh would come back from the meeting carrying a heavy sports bag. It looked like it contained cash in it. He would put the bag in the boot of the vehicle.

“Afterwards, he would ask me to drive him to the Knox Vault in Killarney. At the vault, I would park in the parking lot, while Mr Singh would alight from the vehicle and remove the same bag from the boot.”

Witness 3 said Singh would return later with the bag empty. He said that happened on numerous occasions.

Despite conceding to commission chair Raymond Zondo that he owned “four to five vault boxes at Knox Vault”, Singh said he used the boxes “to store important documents related to my work and family business, including depositing cash up to R100 000”.

brians@citizen.co.za

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