‘Gupta paper scored R17m for ghost ads’

A REGIMENTS Capital director has made damning claims of money laundering, charging R17-million was allegedly paid into the Guptas’ The New Age newspaper.

The allegations have surfaced in a legal battle between Regiments and Eric Wood, a former director at the company who is challenging his removal from the firm in the High Court in Johannesburg.

Regiments Capital director Litha Nyhonyha said in an affidavit that the money was paid using fictitious invoices under the pretext of the company having placed adverts with The New Age.

“Wood misused and abused his position as a director and senior executive of Regiments to allow Regiments to be used for the laundering of payments made from an unknown entity to the Gupta-owned [The] New Age Newspaper,” Nyhonyha alleged in the affidavit.

He said the company had no choice but to remove Wood after finding evidence of wrongdoing and unlawful conduct.

Nyhonyha detailed how Wood and Gupta-linked executive Ashok Narayan conspired in a string of e-mails on June 4 to create paperwork legitimising movement of the money. Copies of the e-mails are attached to the affidavit.

Nyhonyha claimed Wood sent Narayan, a former employee at Sahara Computers, three invoices amounting to R5-million each from Regiments to Technology Procurement Holdings (Techpro) for professional services that were never rendered.

A day before the invoices were sent to Narayan, he had forwarded Wood a signed business agreement between the two companies. He also sent “corresponding invoices” from The New Age of the same amount to Regiments for advertising.

However, in the affidavit Nyhonyha said: “Regiments has never placed any advertisements with The New Age Newspaper.”

This is the second time a court application has alleged dubious transactions involving the Guptas. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has filed papers detailing 72 transactions worth R6.8-billion that were flagged and reported to the Financial Intelligence Centre.

Narayan could not be reached for comment.

Wood said he could not comment as the allegations formed part of an investigation by Trillian Capital Partners chairman Tokyo Sexwale.

Techpro senior executive Craig Smith said the company provided financial advisory services to Regiments as part of a five-year contract. “I don’t remember invoices, it was quite a while back.”