Prisons ex-boss treated to lavish hotel stays by Bosasa
Benefits are all linked to tenders for equipment, catering and training
Within 10 years, former prisons boss Linda Mti racked up luxury hotel bills worth R250,000 – all paid for by Bosasa in exchange for lucrative tenders.
This is according to the draft charge sheet of Mti, 65, who was once custodian of the keys to the country’s law-breakers.
He handed himself over to the police on Thursday in relation to corruption at facilities management company Bosasa.
After appearing in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday afternoon, he was granted bail of R20‚000.
According to the draft charge sheet, Mti scored nearly R1m worth of benefits – including flights, rental cars, and even a traffic fine – between May 2005 and July 2015.
The R322 traffic fine was paid for Mti in Port Elizabeth in July 2015. He also allegedly received R119,769 in cash deposits between March 2004 and December 2007, the lowest being R2‚500 and the largest R9‚000.
It appears Mti had a penchant for The Paxton Hotel in Port Elizabeth, where his bill over the years came to R73,975, according to the charge sheet.
Accommodation at other Port Elizabeth hotels included the Radisson Blu, the Boardwalk Hotel, the Garden Court Kings Beach, The Beach Hotel and the Courtyard Hotel.
Rooms at the Southern Sun, The Cullinan in Cape Town, Garden Court Marine Parade in Durban and Hemingways Hotel in East London were also paid for by the company.
The biggest bill was at the Boardwalk Hotel, for R14,757.
The charge sheet states Mti‚ as a public officer employed by the correctional services department‚ directly or indirectly accepted or agreed to accept unauthorised gratification from former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi and former Bosasa CFO Andries van Tonder.
He also scored from two other companies‚ Sondolo IT and Phezulu Fencing.
The three companies are named in the court papers.
The benefits are all linked to tenders for catering, installation of television systems, training prison staff, fencing, surveillance cameras and body scanners at some of the country’s prisons.
In the case of catering at prisons, a three-year R717m contract was given to Bosasa on July 20 2004.
But additional kitchens were later added, resulting in an extra R82m being paid out.
The draft charge sheet alleges Mti failed to ensure compliance with the procurement processes of the correctional services department in relation to a number of tenders‚ which resulted in the Bosasa group of companies being awarded those tenders.
He also faces six counts of failing to comply with the Public Finance Management Act.
For ensuring Bosasa secured some of the tenders, Mti is accused of appointing former correctional services CFO Patrick Gillingham to both the bid evaluation committee and national bid adjudication committee.
Gillingham appeared in court on Wednesday‚ together with Agrizzi, a state capture whistleblower, and Van Tonder.
The accused are expected to appear in court on March 27.