De Lille to face criminal charge
EMBATTLED mayor Patricia de Lille says she has been informed that a criminal complaint has been laid against her by the DA’s top brass in respect of an alleged R5 million bribe.
Anthony Faul, a Gauteng businessman, alleged that De Lille had sought R5 million from him for endorsing his product – a fire extinguisher he was marketing to use in informal settlements in the city.
“My lawyers and I were afforded an opportunity to respond to this new allegation by the party but, given that emails had to be collected and checked, we were unable to do so within the very short time permitted,” De Lille said.
She said comparable allegations had been made against DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela regarding the sponsorship of his birthday party.
“Also against Premier Helen Zille, regarding payment of a trip to Singapore and the boosting of her son’s business, but none of these issues have been reported to the police. If this was seriously the reason, then the party should also have laid a criminal complaint against Mr Faul as he himself failed for more than five years to report the matter to police,” she said.
The Cape Argus has seen emails between De Lille’s office and Faul where she turned down a meeting with Faul after he failed to arrive for meetings.
Faul owns a fire safety company and was to provide about 1 000 fire extinguisher balls to the City, but requested a letter of intent from the City before delivering the product.
He had requested a meeting with De Lille after several failed attempts. In one email he mentions a “donation” which he and his funders were able to give.
De Lille refused the meeting and made it clear she would not be willing to reconsider her decision. “It is a pity that this well-intentioned project was then jettisoned. But needless to say, the allegation he makes that I tried to make him pay me R5 million is utter hogwash. The correspondence already shows that this could never have happened. How could I demand payment from someone who was to fund his own project?” she asked.