Facts about Dubai clinic

My name was used in a subheading on the front page of this newspaper on Wednesday (Guptas’ shifty Dubai clinic project exposed, November 8). I was not asked for comment before you decided to write an innuendo-filled piece.

There is only one truth, and sadly it is never owned by journalists, who seek to tell a story, not reflect facts. Ian Whitely is my son-in-law. I have never heard of any clinics in the Free State, nor do I know nor am I associated with any company named Cureva, nor any other company at all.

Your article stems from a period when Whitely was approached by Des van Rooyen to be his office manager at the Treasury after Van Rooyen had been appointed finance minister. He called me for advice. I advised him never to work in the Treasury because it was controlled by a cabal, where every appointment was approved by people who had led in that space, even when they no longer served there.

I regret that Whitely did not follow my advice, but he makes his own decisions. I did not know Van Rooyen, so an introduction would have been impossible and improbable.

Your journalists are trying to link me to a sinister plot to defraud the state. I am not in the capture of any person or business entity, I owe no favours to any person and ask for none. I too wish to see an end to sycophantic practices.

We need to go beyond reigns of innuendo and terror by suggestion, and find the balls to get real facts that will result in prosecution, and not end in the persecution of individuals.