Trillian CEO Wood ‘laundered’ Gupta millions
MILLIONS of rands allegedly laundered by a Gupta associate‚ Eric Wood‚ were used to sponsor the awards that named presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma the South African of the Year two years ago.
The South African of the Year Awards are run by the Gupta familyowned The New Age Company.
The money-laundering allegations were made by Wood’s former business partner‚ Litha Nyhonyha‚ in an affidavit.
As part of winning the award, Dlamini-Zuma walked away with R250 000 in prize-money at the event in 2015.
Dlamini-Zuma’s spokeswoman Febe Potgieter-Gqubule said the former African Union Commission chairwoman donated all her prizemoney to charity – the Thusanani Foundation. The foundation confirmed this.
The R10-million which allegedly sponsored the event has since November last year become a bone of contention in a court action between Regiments Capital and Wood, one of its former directors and Gupta associate.
Wood was the man to whom a confidential cabinet master-plan to avoid a ratings downgrade was leaked by short-lived finance minister Des van Rooyen’s advisers in 2015.
Wood is the chief executive of Trillian Capital Partners‚ owned by Salim Essa‚ another close associate of the Guptas, and the president’s son Duduzane Zuma.
The legal battle emanates from Wood’s departure from Regiments and his partnering with Essa.
The directors of Regiments – Litha Nyhonyha and Niven Pillay – laid criminal charges at Bramley police station relating to alleged money laundering involving R17-million in payments made to TNA in sponsorship for the 2015 awards.
Nyhonyha argued in his affidavit last year that the R17-million was paid using fictitious invoices by Wood under the pretext that Regiments was placing adverts with TNA.
Approached for comment‚ Wood said the R10-million was meant to sponsor the 2015 event and that there was a signed agreement in place.
He said it was baffling Regiments was now claiming it did not know.
“You will recall that the ongoing dispute between Eric Wood and his erstwhile Regiments partners‚ Niven Pillay and Litha Nyhonyha‚ is essentially a shareholder dispute‚” Trillian said in a statement.
“In order to pursue their own agenda‚ Pillay and Nyhonyha‚ have sought to air their dispute in the press as a device to discredit Dr Wood‚ who has preferred to leave the matter in the hands of the judiciary.”
But an insider familiar with the ongoing battle between Wood and Regiments said neither of the two other executives were invited to the event‚ nor was the company’s logo on banners at the event.
“The other directors knew nothing about this so-called sponsorship. They were not even invited to the function but paid R10-million as one of the sponsors. That money was going elsewhere. In fact, there were no adverts placed by Regiments with TNA‚” the insider claimed.
Relations between Wood and his former business associates Nyhonyha and Pillay soured when the latter two refused to sell a 50% stake in Regiments to the Guptas.
Nyhonyha said in his court papers the company had no choice but to remove Wood after finding evidence of wrongdoing and unlawful conduct.
Nyhonyha claimed in the court papers that Wood and Gupta-linked executive Ashok Narayan conspired in a string of e-mails on June 4 to create paperwork legitimising movement of the money.
Nyhonyha claimed Wood sent Narayan‚ a former employee at Sahara Computers‚ three invoices amounting to R5-million each from Regiments to Technology Procurement Holdings (Techpro) for professional services that were never rendered.
He also sent “corresponding invoices” from The New Age for the same amount to Regiments for advertising.
TNA has previously declined to comment on the claims and had not responded to requests for comment on Thursday. — TMG