POLOKWANE – The department of public works, roads and infrastructure claim that the Limpopo Gambling Board (LGB) acted independently when they signed the lease agreement with Blue Chameleon Pty Ltd, which is owned by property tycoon, Jimmy Kourtoumbellides.
In response to Review’s previous article on June 11 to 17 on the lease agreement, Serobi Maja, CEO of the board, said LGB awarded the tender to Blue Chameleon as they met and satisfied the requirements of the requested proposals.
“LGB was assured by department officials at the time that the rental was in line with industry norms and standards. LGB awarded the tender to a qualifying company irrespective of whether the company did work for other government departments or not as there is no statutory prohibition that would compel the board not to award the tender to such a company,” Maja said.
Department spokesperson, Paena Galane, said: “LGB does its own office accommodations arrangements. LGB only engaged with the department for advice after the lease agreement was finalised”.
Maja confirmed that LGB leased the building as a public entity.
“However, in drafting the specifications for the building and the discussion of the rentals, we were advised by officials of the department throughout the tender process,” Maja said.
LGB currently rents the building for R775 106 per month and according to Maja at the beginning of the lease period, the landlord indicated that they would be prepared to sell the building to the board at R89 million.
He said the board saved R46,5 million towards the purchasing of the building, but the amount was surrendered to treasury as per instruction by Monde Tom, the intervention team’s chief administrator, when the province was placed under administration.
Asked why LGB returned the money to treasury, being a public entity, Maja said: “all funds collected by the board are paid over to the provincial revenue fund in terms of directives from the provincial treasury. The amount was raised as a grant from the department of economic development, environment and tourism (Ledet) towards the purchase of the building. R6,5 million resulted from the savings of the board, while R40 million was granted to the board in tranches of R20 million per annum over two years before Limpopo was placed under administration.”
He added that whether the money would be given back to LGB or not was a matter for discussion between treasury and Ledet, to which the board reported to.
