The roots of state capture run deep in South Africa – it is no wonder that the Zondo State Capture Inquiry has this week been granted a fifth extension. The quasi-judicial process was initially set to last only 180 days but has run public hearings for more than three years. This article below, which first appeared on OUTA’s website, sets out the myriad ways in which ‘Gupta-fixer’ Kuben Moodley has been tethered to the state capture network in South Africa. Moodley was arrested on Tuesday at OR Tambo International Airport in connection with alleged money laundering of the proceeds from contracts improperly awarded by Transnet to Regiments and Trillian. Moodley’s arrest now seems like an anticlimactic triumph. If the amounts received by the Gupta-linked businessman over the last few years – as set out herein – are anything to go by, he certainly has the means to ‘disappear’ and evade prosecution in South Africa. On top of this there’s the fact that he was arrested just before boarding a flight to the UAE – the country where the Guptas are said to be living. The Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court’s decision to grant Moodley, an almost literal flight risk, bail of a meagre R150,000 is therefore rather perplexing. – Nadya Swart
Central state capture suspect arrested and appears in court
Here’s a reminder of how Kuben Moodley fits into the state capture network
Kubentheran Moodley, the erstwhile advisor of former Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, co-director together with Frans Lodewyk Munnik Basson of Lornavision, sole director of Albatime, co-director of the Gupta medical company Mediosa, business associate of Salim Essa, business associate and friend of Eric Wood, husband to former Eskom Board member Devapushpum Naidoo, acquaintance of former President Jacob Zuma, owner of multiple up-market properties, golf enthusiast and regular guest at a well-known Sandton strip club, was arrested last night at the OR Tambo International Airport as he was about to board a flight to Dubai.
Moodley appeared in court this morning (see here).
Kuben Moodley is not an unknown figure when it comes to state capture allegations.
Evidence at the State Capture Commission linked Moodley to transactions between Transnet, McKinsey, Regiments and Trillian on various advisory contracts. Moodley and Essa presented themselves as business brokers to McKinsey and Regiments Capital respectively. They agreed with Regiments Capital, which was appointed as the social development partner of McKinsey, to receive a “fee” for their role in bringing the parties together and securing contracts with Transnet. Essa initially received 30% and Moodley 5% of all payments made by Transnet to Regiments Capital. Later, Essa agreed with Eric Wood, director of Regiments Capital, that his “fee” would increase to 50%. Regiments was paid more than R1bn by Transnet on so-called advisory services.
Essa received R425 million from Regiments on the advisory services contracts with Transnet. These payments were made to various companies nominated by Essa like Homix, Chivita, Forsure, Medjoul to name a few.
Moodley’s share was paid to his company Albatime which had bank accounts at Absa and Bank of Baroda. Albatime received a total of R42m on advisory services Regiments rendered to Transnet, R141m as a “commission” on the loan by China Development Bank to Transnet and R42m as a kickback on the interest swaps involving Transnet, Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund and Nedbank.
Moodley paid the R141m he received in Albatime’s Bank of Baroda account over to Sahara Computers, Essa, Mediosa, and several letterbox companies nominated by Essa. At least R37m of the money that was paid to the letterbox companies found its way back to the bank account of Confident Concepts, a Gupta-owned company.
The above findings were captured by OUTA in a referral to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in September 2020, in terms of section 27 of the NPA Act which allows for direct referrals in major cases. OUTA’s statement at the time is here.
OUTA welcomes Moodley’s arrest and court appearance, and is happy to see that its referrals and submissions on state capture to the law-enforcement agencies contributes to the arrest of state capturers.
OUTA’s section 27 referral identified several other roleplayers and we believe that it is just a matter of time before Moodley will get some co-accused to stand trial alongside him on criminal charges like corruption, money laundering, theft and fraud.
OUTA urges the NPA to oppose any bail application, seeing that Moodley is a flight risk and had to be arrested to prevent him from leaving South Africa.
Remember Lornavision and SABC?
In 2016 OUTA compiled an investigation report on SABC’s contract with Lornavision, through which SABC awarded the collection of all outstanding television licence fees to Lornavision. This report was shared with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). Moodley was a director of Lornavision along with Frans Basson. The Lornavision contract was set aside by the Johannesburg High Court in August 2017 (see here) and civil litigation was instituted against Lornavision and James Aguma to recover R62.7m.
Moodley and the Kruger Rands
In June 2020 the NPA’s Investigating Directorate (ID) was granted an order which restrained Moodley or Albatime from dealing with R232m worth of assets. This application was brought by the ID’s head, Advocate Hermione Cronje, on an urgent basis when the State Capture Commission released approximately R20m worth of liquid assets held by Moodley in safety deposit boxes the commission had seized a year before (see here).
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