Nene asks how Chawla got Treasury mail
• Former minister queries how official Treasury letter that he signed ended up in possession of Gupta associate
Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene is questioning how an official Treasury letter he signed ended up in the e-mail inbox of a Gupta associate. It is the second piece of correspondence bearing his name to appear in the e-mail inbox of Ashu Chawla, CE of the Gupta-owned Sahara group.
Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene is questioning how an official Treasury letter he signed ended up in the e-mail inbox of a Gupta associate.
The document — an official communication from Nene dated February 6 2015 — has been found among thousands of leaked Gupta e-mails.
This was the second piece of correspondence bearing his name to appear in the e-mail inbox of Ashu Chawla, CE of the Gupta-owned Sahara group.
On Tuesday, Business Day revealed the existence of another letter, which had been authored in Nene’s name and which sought favourable financing from the China Development Bank for a multibillion-rand locomotive contract.
Nene labelled that letter a “fabrication” and investment company Regiments insisted it was merely a draft.
Regiments director Niven Pillay said: “It is our belief that this letter, which is penned and signed by the [former] minister, is a response to the draft [the letter Nene claims is fake] that was sent to the minister by Transnet and/or Eric Wood.
“Therefore he is mistaken in categorising it as fake and fraudulent as it was actually a draft for his consideration which he declined to pursue,” Pillay said.
However, Nene said the letter purportedly written by him to the Chinese was a “fake/fabrication”.
He said he would never ask anyone to draft a letter on his behalf outside of the department, “unless the request for a letter is not clear”.
“Chances are that he [Wood] might have done it on his own, but as my letter shows, his formulation was not in line with ours.”
Asked about the letters ending up in Chawla’s e-mail inbox, Nene said: “This is what baffles me because if there was correspondence between us [Treasury] and an SOE [state-owned enterprise], especially this one [the official Treasury letter], I don’t understand how it ends up in their in-tray.”
The official Treasury letter was addressed to Wood, a former Regiments Capital director and now a business partner of key Gupta business associate Salim Essa in Trillian Capital Partners. The leaked e-mails reveal Wood forwarded Nene’s Treasury letter to Essa an hour after it was sent to him by Nene’s former personal assistant.
Essa then sent the letter to Chawla on the same day.
Wood declined to comment on his forwarding the letter to Essa. Chawla and Essa failed to respond to questions.
In the official Treasury e-mail, Nene’s personal assistant thanks Wood for a previous letter regarding the SA-China relationship.
It is not known which letter she was referring to, although Regiments says it believes it to be the letter Nene labelled a “fabrication”.
Wood is embroiled in a legal battle with Regiments, which has accused him of stealing company information and providing it to Essa.
At the time both letters were circulated, Regiments was assisting Transnet in its negotiations for the purchase of 1,064 locomotives. The bulk of the project went to North China Rail and China South Rail.
Nene’s official letter differs from the letter Nene called a fabrication in that it does not mention seeking a more favourable deal from the Chinese for the locomotives.
Nene’s official letter came days after Wood instructed his Regiments subordinate, Tewodros Gebreselasie, a senior economic adviser still with Regiments, to draft the Nene letter to the Chinese bank on behalf of Transnet.
Wood insisted the so-called fake letter, which he said was never signed, was merely a draft that would have been sent to Transnet, his client at the time, for its consideration.
“The letter was not written on behalf of or at the instance of [former] minister Nene. With respect, Nene’s disputing of the veracity of the letter is erroneous. If anything, the letter of February 6 would indicate the minister’s awareness of Regiments’ role as advisers.”
Wood claimed he was instructed by former Transnet chief financial officer Anoj Singh – who is now Eskom’s chief financial officer — to write the letter. Singh said he could not recall sending a letter to Nene or the Chinese bank.
Clarification: Regiments Capital said on Tuesday it was concerned that Business Day’s initial report implied that their employee, Gebreselasie, was painted as a Gupta ally. We are happy to clarify that was not intended and that there is no suggestion Gebreselasie is associated with the Gupta family.