Outa guns for Gupta’s ‘pal’

GRAFT, FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT CHARGE: CITES GUPTALEAKS E-MAILS, PROBE OF TRILLIAN

Suspended Eskom CFO Anoj Singh ‘has been invaluable for the family’s empire’.

Charges of corruption and financial misconduct were laid yesterday against Eskom’s suspended chief financial officer, Anoj Singh, by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).

The charges were laid at the Randburg police station, according to Outa CEO Ben Theron.

“Singh has been invaluable for the Gupta empire and has bent over backwards to pave the way for lucrative deals,” he charged.

Much of Outa’s affidavit outlines the case against Singh arising from the investigation by advocate Geoff Budlender, SC. He was appointed by Tokyo Sexwale, then chairperson of the Trillian group, to investigate Trillian over allegations of its use of inside political knowledge for commercial gain and links to the Guptas.

“At the same time, the #GuptaLeaks e-mails were obtained by AmaBhungane, providing substantial evidence of the Guptas’ involvement in wrongdoing. The Budlender report and the e-mails contain evidence of conduct by Singh that indicates corruption and breaches of the Public Finance Management Act and the Companies Act,” said Stefanie Fick, Outa’s head of legal affairs.

“It is also apparent from the Budlender report there has to be a full-scale investigation into Eskom and Transnet. Singh appears to have authorised payments from Eskom to benefit Gupta businesses. Singh authorised a R1.6 billion guarantee by Eskom to Absa bank, used by the Guptas to buy Optimum Coal Holdings in 2015.”

The Budlender investigation noted that Singh authorised four payments to Trillian in 2016 totalling about R419 million, she said. The main Trillian shareholder was Salim Essa, who is part of the Gupta business empire.

“The payments to Trillian were connected to its claim it was a subcontractor to McKinsey and Company, which was an Eskom contractor, but there were no tenders or contracts supporting Eskom’s payments to Trillian, and no indication Trillian did any work. The Gupta e-mails include a January 2016 letter from a Trillian company to Singh claiming Es- kom should pay it directly as a McKinsey subcontractor. The Budlender report notes Eskom denied making any payments to Trillian and in December 2016 Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown denied to parliament that Eskom had any contracts with Trillian or had made any payments to it.” – Citizen reporter