John Bredenkamp, the billionaire behind Francois Pienaar’s Saracens deal, is a shady arms dealer who has already been ditched by Nick Price. Mungo Soggot and Peta Thornycroft report
THE billionaire who set up Francois Pienaar’s transfer to British rugby club Saracens is a shady arms-dealer-turned- sports-mogul who was recently ditched by golfer Nick Price.
Golfing insiders confirmed this week that Price had recently severed ties with his long-time friend John Bredenkamp, a fellow Zimbabwean who made his fortune peddling tobacco and arms.
Pienaar, South Africa’s sacked rugby captain, told Beeld newspaper this week that he had been eyeing English clubs for the past year and that Bredenkamp had introduced him to Saracens’ boss Nigel Wray.
A representative for the South African Rugby Football Union said the union had not been aware of Bredenkamp’s involvement in the deal.
Bredenkamp, who has strong links with South Africa, quit arms dealing and entered the sports world two years ago. But colleagues say he has had trouble shaking off old habits. “It was just a matter of time before he [Price] would ditch him,” said a former colleague, who claimed Bredenkamp’s use of arms industry business tactics clashed with the sports world.
Bredenkamp’s sports company, Masters International, dealt with South African golfer Ernie Els, who had earlier also parted company. It manages cricketers, rugby players and chess world champion Garry Kasparov.
One of Bredenkamp’s Masters International executives is former Armscor boss “Kotie” Coetzee, who lives near Bredenkamp’s Ascot mansion outside London.
Both men can be linked to some of the world’s most dubious covert arms deals in contravention of United Nations embargoes. Some of the deals originated in South Africa.
Apart from his liaison with Armscor in his arms-dealing days, Bredenkamp is known to have allowed at least one operative from South Africa’s military intelligence to claim to work for his tobacco company while active in the Southern African region.
The extraordinary tale of Bredenkamp’s liaison with Price was recently told by United States-based sports magazine Sports Illustrated, which dubbed Bredenkamp “the most mysterious man in golf”. He is estimated to be worth $350-million. “One could argue that Bredenkamp has mismanaged Price more than managed him,” wrote the magazine.
In one instance, Price, on Bredenkamp’s advice, signed a 10-year deal for more than $25-million with a two-year-old Californian golf club company. At the time Price was number two in the world. The idea was that the company would produce a series of golf irons which would be promoted by Price. But it never produced the clubs and the company collapsed.
Bredenkamp told the magazine he had learnt his lesson: “What I learnt from the experience is that I wouldn’t just want to hear what the company was going to do; I’d want evidence of it.”
A documentary made two years ago by Britain’s Channel Four television programme Dispatches described in detail Bredenkamp’s lucrative arms deals.
According to the documentary, Bredenkamp, who once captained Rhodesia’s national rugby team, worked for Ian Smith’s government, in the service of which he developed his sanctions-busting skills – first with tobacco and later with arms.
He formed a tobacco company called Casalee, named after his two daughters Caron and Sara, and his wife Lee. Casalee’s industrial arm fronted a massive arms dealing operation which was active in most of the world’s trouble spots – in particular Iran, to which he sold land mines and anti-aircraft guns.
On several occasions the documentary dwells on Bredenkamp’s knack of co-opting state officials and policemen. Early on in his career he was charged with contravening Rhodesian trade legislation. However, the charges fell away and the investigating officer in the case, Robert Jolly, is now a Casalee executive.
Channel Four also commented on the Belgian police’s sudden decision to back-off investigating Bredenkamp’s sale of arms to Iran. Channel Four accused Bredenkamp of bribing staff at a major international arms manufacturer to secure commissions for himself and established he had set up a secret company to receive commissions.
Despite his former Rhodesian ties, Bredenkamp later developed a good relationship with several Zimbabwean officials involved in that country’s defence portfolio.
Said one sports management insider: “It is only a matter of time before the rugby world wakes up to the realities that the US has woken up to.”
Bredenkamp failed to return calls from the Mail & Guardian this week. Price, who is playing golf in Zimbabwe, could not be reached for comment.