Mentor defends accuracy of her flight details on ‘Gupta trips’

THE credibility of the evidence by former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor has come under scrutiny after some of the testimony she provided to the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture was disputed by records which were sought to corroborate her claims.

This comes as Mentor is set to be grilled at the commission today after she wraps up her testimony.

Mentor was one of the first witnesses to take the stand at the commission, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, and accused the Guptas of offering her a ministerial job in exchange for her using the post to advance their business interests.

Yesterday, Mentor’s testimony came into question after flight records of the travels linked to her allegations did not match the allegations before the commission.

She had previously told the commission that she had met Atul Gupta on a government visit to China in August 2010, but records obtained from the Department of Home Affairs disproved claims that he had travelled to China during that period.

Mentor insisted that Atul allegedly possessed a number of passports.

Advocate Mahlape Sello of the commission’s legal team said investigators had obtained records of all the people alleged by Mentor to have flown to China during the period.

“We have prepared what we call a confidential bundle, which includes the full records, that was to be submitted when we deal with Ms Mentor’s query as to whether or not we tracked Mr Atul Gupta’s movements through one passport.

“For the purposes of that August travel, only the Department of Home Affairs can tell us whether he did leave or enter the country on any particular day or month, or what passport he used. In 2010 he travelled in May, he travelled in October and he travelled in December, so he could not have been, according to Home Affairs, in China during August if he left the country legally,” Sello said.

Mentor defended the credibility of her testimony, pointing out that the Guptas were able to move in and out the country without clearing customs, citing the controversial landing of the family at Waterkloof Air Force Base for their wedding in 2013 as an example.

Mentor’s allegation that she flew with SAA from Cape Town to Johannesburg to meet former president Jacob Zuma also came under scrutiny after records obtained from the national carrier did not match the dates she submitted as part of her evidence.

Mentor alleged that during the visit to see Zuma, the Guptas offered her the post of minister of public enterprises at their residence in Saxonwold.

Mentor insisted her evidence was correct and SAA records were not.

“I have also compared SAA records with the SAA records from Parliament’s travel agency which have been forwarded to me by the commission and there were missing links.”

Lawyers of Zuma’s former aide, Lakela Kaunda, and Hawks official Mandla Mtolo are scheduled to cross-examine Mentor after she implicated them in her testimony.

Mentor alleged that Kaunda called her to go to Johannesburg to meet Zuma before the Gupta ministerial offer, and that Mtolo told her to remove Zuma’s name from the criminal case she lodged in 2016 if she wanted it to be investigated.

They have denied the allegations.