Explosive testimony on Myeni’s son
Fraudulent payments and fake invoices
A KEY witness referred to as “Mr X” has testified in an undisclosed location about corruption allegations involving the Richards Bay-based state-owned water supply company Mhlathuze Water.
The witness was referred to as Mr X at the State Capture Inquiry, as he fears for his life and had asked the Zondo Commission to protect him.
The commission heard how former Mhlathuze Water board chairperson Dudu Myeni had threatened Mr X’s daughter, after she heard that he was co-operating with the commission. Mr X is linked to Isibonelo Construction company, which did work in Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal.
Earlier, the commission heard that Isibonelo Construction had received R3 million in payments from Premier Attractions 1016 – a company owned by Dudu Myeni’s son Thalenthe Myeni between October 2015 and February 2016.
Asked about the payments, Thalenthe Myeni earlier said they were part of a usual business transaction. “In respect of Isibonelo, the transactions were business transactions.
“I have no record of the nature of the transactions. I have no record of the business made with the said company due to the passage of time.”
But the commission’s witness Mr X is set to dispute this account in his submissions.
Mr X told the commission yesterday that Isibonelo did various jobs in KZN, and that it had provided JoJo Tanks to an area in KZN in 2014.
He said he had obtained the contract after contacting Thalenthe Myeni. He and Myeni had a long-standing relationship over the years, he said.
Mr X said a friend, Mboniseni Majola, had approached him in early 2015 asking to provide his banking details for Isibonelo, so that he and his “boss” could transfer funds through the company’s account. Majola was a project manager at Mhlathuze Water.
“A friend had asked me for help with regard to funds that they wanted to access with his boss. Boniseni Majola is the friend’s name. I did not ask him (Majola) how the scheme would work, because he is more educated than me.
“He said he would give me the account number that I must pay the money into,” Mr X told the inquiry.
He said Majola had used Isibonelo’s banking facilities to pay construction engineering companies. The engineering companies provided false employment letters to Isibonelo, and would then transfer various amounts.
He told the commission that he was then instructed to make payments into various banking accounts, which had never done business with Isibonelo.
Mr X said Majola worked with a colleague to draw up fake invoices that would make it seem like Isibonelo was being paid funds (for work) it did not render. This was to disguise the transactions between 2013 to 2016.
“Yes, I did that (make the payments to other companies from funds provided by the engineering companies). I wanted to be seen as a person who can be trusted,” he said.
The commission also heard testimony from Thalenthe Myeni, the owner of Premier Attractions 1016. But he struggled to answer what type of projects his company, Premier Attractions, had undertaken over the years.
Myeni could also not provide the commission with the number of people he employed. “I cannot recall,” became a standard response for Myeni, as the commission’s evidence leader advocate Kate Hofmeyr questioned him about his company.
“It does consulting work in various areas such as property development, hospitality and events. The turnover has fluctuated over the years, and some years have been better than others.
“There’s no constant standard number of staff who is around, and sometimes we subcontract. I cannot say, chair, we would employ people on a project basis,” he said.
The commission’s questions to Myeni related to a R2 million payment received by Premier Attractions in June 2015.
Asked about the payment, he said it was for project consultancy work that his company had conducted in Mpumalanga with VNA Consultancy. Myeni said VNA was the main contractor in a housing project, and his company was a subcontractor.