Professor Thuli Madonsela. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
Former public protector Thuli Madonsela is sticking to her guns on the findings of her probe into state capture after Ajay Gupta accused her of bias and not presenting all the facts in an affidavit filed with the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Madonsela not only denied some of Gupta’s claims, but went further, suggesting that Gupta request current public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to help him clear his name by releasing the audio of the interview she conducted with him during her investigations.
An affidavit submitted to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture by Gupta reportedly fervently denies the allegations made by former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas against him.
He has accused Jonas of lying about meeting him in an alleged attempt to “falsely implicate” Gupta in wrongdoing.
Although the affidavit was filed on September 2, TimesLIVE reported that they received it for the first time yesterday afternoon and made the contents public.
In the affidavit, which was presumably drafted in Dubai, Gupta says he made no offer of a ministerial post to Jonas, who had told the commission that Gupta attempted to bribe him in October 2015 with an offer of R600 million and the position of finance minister if he favoured Gupta interests.
Gupta wrote: “I did not make any offer to him to pay him either R600 000 cash or offer to pay him R600m in an account of his choice.
“I did not have any knowledge of any upcoming Cabinet reshuffling and/or about ministers that may be fired and I did not have any influence over the appointment of any members of the national executive, nor did I ever have such influence.”
He claimed he was able to prove he wasn’t in the places Jonas said he had met Gupta or his associates (a hotel and the Gupta Saxonwold home), and was, in fact, at Oakbay’s Sandton offices when the meeting was meant to have taken place.
He reportedly claims cellphone records would back him up and several staff members had seen him there.
He also slammed Madonsela’s questions from her state capture probe. He claims she did not accurately capture the detail of his cellphone records and that she had asked him leading questions, suggestive of bias.
In response, Madonsela told The Citizen yesterday: “Unfortunately, I need the records to be of optimal assistance. For now, I can confirm that Mr Ajay Gupta tendered no cellphone records to the PP. Regarding the questions I asked, Mr Gupta should request the PP to release the audio from the interview for the nation to assess for itself.”
It’s likely, however, that Gupta believes it wasn’t his responsibility to submit the cellphone records, and they should have been examined by Madonsela to conclusively determine his whereabouts.
Jonas’ testimony last month left open the possibility that it may not have been Ajay he met, but rather another Gupta brother, or someone who looked Indian. Jonas admitted he could not exclude the possibility that it was Rajesh Gupta.
Gupta said: “His version of the events of the meeting he had with Fana Hlongwane and Duduzane Zuma is an intentional fabrication to implicate me in alleged wrongdoing in which I played no part, as I was not present and never met Mr Jonas.”
Gupta also reportedly criticised Jonas for telling the inquiry he had threatened to kill him. He said Jonas had never mentioned this to Madonsela, even though she had apparently specifically asked him if he’d received any threats.
– news@citizen.co.za
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