Myeni, JZ Foundation ‘scored R3m in dodgy funds’
EVIDENCE presented at the Zondo commission has implicated the Jacob Zuma Foundation and former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni as the recipients of close to R3 million in questionable funds.
The inquiry yesterday heard evidence from Mr X, a witness who has requested that his identity be protected for fear of reprisals.
Mr X implicated Myeni when he said a construction company he is linked to, Isibonelo Construction, had been used by a company called Premier Attraction, owned by Thalente Myeni, to deposit R3m.
Thalente is the son of the former SAA board chair. Mr X said he and Dudu Myeni had a close relationship and had been business partners in 1998 and 1999.
Mr X told the commission that on October 21, 2015, R1m was deposited into his company’s bank account. The reference on this transaction read “IB payment from PA1016”, an account of Premier Attraction. The same reference was used in three separate payments made to Isibonelo.
Mr X said Premier Attraction went on to make two more payments into Isibonelo’s bank account. The second was on December 11, 2015, with a deposit of R1 150 000. The third was made in February 2016 with a R1m deposit. After the first deposit, Myeni began requesting various withdrawals from Isobonelo’s account.
After the October 21, 2015, deposit, he said, he received instructions from Myeni who demanded he withdraw R50 000 in cash and deliver it to her. On October 28, 2015 Myeni requested Mr X withdraw R31 000. On October 27, R20 000 was withdrawn by Mr X and delivered to Myeni.
Mr X explained how he would deliver the money to Myeni: “When it was deposited Myeni asked me to withdraw the money and bring it to her. I would withdraw the money and take it to her house. Myeni had two different houses that she stayed at. She had offices in her house and I would hide the money at her office. I would call her and inform her. There were also times when she was present and I delivered the cash in her hand.”
The second payment of just over R1m from Premier Attraction was made into Isibonelo’s bank account on December 11. Soon after, Mr X said, Dudu Myeni told him to transfer R1m into a bank account that belonged to the Jacob Zuma Foundation. Myeni is the chair of the Jacob Zuma Foundation which she runs alongside the former president. “I think she called me after the money was deposited. She told me she could give me the banking details of where I should transfer the money. I asked my secretary to deposit the money. A transfer of R1m from Isibonelo’s bank account was transferred to that account.”
The payment reference for that transaction was “IB Payment to Jacob Zuma Foundation”.
“I found out when the commission came to see me that the money was deposited into the Jacob Zuma Foundation,” Mr X said. The third payment of R1m was received by Isibonelo from Premier Attraction on February 2, 2016 and R800 000 transferred to the Jacob Zuma Foundation two days later.