Disinformation campaign links
BELL Pottinger was introduced to the Gupta corporate empire by an associate of the family, Fana Hlongwane, who got to know the public relations company as he battled exposés made against him during the arms deal.
Hlongwane, who has been fingered as the middleman between the South African government and UK arms supplier BAE Systems, is widely regarded as the biggest beneficiary of “commissions” in the arms deal in the early 2000s.
He was introduced to Bell Pottinger by the father of Victoria Geoghegan, who was promoted to company vice-president in December last year.
She has since been fired as the company attempts to limit damage to its reputation.
It has had to face an unprecedented inquiry before the PR regulatory body in the UK after a complaint by the DA.
The Gupta patrons and their political players began the campaign when their effort to install Des van Rooyen as finance minister in December 2015 backfired spectacularly.
They needed a new plan – and the chronology of the #Guptaemails reveals how Bell Pottinger helped to package the new message.
The disinformation campaign used a range of media to carry the propaganda: The New Age newspaper and TV channel ANN7; other news sites used included Black Opinion, Uncensored and Weekly Exposé; pro-Gupta websites AtulGupta.com and TruthbyConnorMead. and websites and blogs, such as WMC Leaks, WMC Scams, Dodgy SA Ministers and Voetsek.
Investigations by Scorpio and AmaBhungane have revealed several of the sites were created or linked to the same Gupta employee, Himanshu Tanwar, via his company FutureTeq.
Our investigation also reveals the following similarities:
● They are all promoted by the same fake accounts on Twitter and pages on Facebook;
● They use similar templates and layouts;
● They share content through reblogs and syndication;
● All the website “owners” are regular analysts on ANN7; and
● They share website developers. Wordpress