Justin Arenstein
Suspended Mpumalanga parks chief Alan Gray has made a desperate appeal for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to help him fight 77 theft and fraud charges in return for “offering up” some of the province’s most prominent politicians.
Gray and ousted environmental affairs MEC David Mkhwanazi secretly met with NIA director gene-ral Vusi Mavimbela in Pretoria three weeks ago and offered conclusive proof that Mathews Phosa and other politicians were implicated in corruption.
In return he reportedly requested NIA to review charges that he used a network of secret companies to siphon at least R2,3- million out of the Mpumalanga Parks Board (MPB) for personal use and for transfer to political parties.
Mavimbela reluctantly confirmed the meeting this week, after initially refusing to take calls on the issue for three weeks. “They met with me at their own request. They offered information against various people and on a number of issues … but there was nothing new. I had heard all the allegations before.”
He confirmed the NIA’s own earlier covert investigations indicated there was “substance” to many of the allegations, but said the charges would be difficult to prove in court.
Mavimbela refused to specify which allegations against Phosa or other high- profile individuals were true.
“Let’s not go that far. I will not discuss the detailed content of our meeting,” was all he would say.
Mavimbela confirmed, however, that Gray and Mkhwanazi offered information on Phosa’s alleged irregular business interests, on the “true story” behind the R25-billion Dolphin deal scandal in 1996, the R1,3-billion promissory note scandal last year and the African National Congress’s alleged use of state resources to bankroll the party.
“We had already checked most of these things out as part of our on- going probe into state corruption and after the ANC infighting,” he said.
Mavimbela denied that either Gray or Mkhwanazi requested the NIA to facilitate a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki but confirmed “they came to me because they believed I had influence. It was basically an appeal to say listen to our side of the story. They claimed there were a lot of misconceptions surrounding the promissory note [scandal] and alleged corruption in the province and offered to share the information they had.”
Gray initially denied on Wednesday that the meeting took place, but later backtracked and insisted NIA invited both him and Mkhwanazi to “share information”.
“I have a court case pending and am keeping mum. I will not jeopardise myself but you can rest assured that all the details will come out at my trial,” he said.
Gray said that the meeting was not his first with NIA and insisted he never attempted to “strike a bargain – I don’t need to. I have a lot of proof to back up [earlier accusations against Phosa]. It will be easy to prove at the trial.”
A 1998 memorandum to the ANC national executive committee by Gray alleged that he was recruited by Phosa to set up a secret network of “empowerment” companies to channel state funds into the ANC’s election coffers. He claims the shady network, which includes security, tourism, aviation, construction and medical aid companies, was designed to milk government tenders for the ANC’s benefit.
Gray was eventually arrested for allegedly using two of the companies, Phambili Construction and Nicvale Foods, to defraud the MPB of R2,3-million by submitting false invoices.
His co-accused and former provincial ANC Youth League secretary, James Nkambule, has since publicly admitted that at least R105 000 was paid directly to the party, while additional amounts were allegedly used to bankroll two provincial ANC congresses, election campaigns, accommodation for party officials and helicopter flips for leaders such as Phosa.
Gray also alleged that the Dolphin deal, which secretly promised the province’s flagship game reserves to a foreign company, was brokered by the ANC in return for election donations.
The party has refused to either confirm or deny that it received donations from the Dubai-based Dolphin Group, but company executives have admitted in a letter that they paid R50 000 cash directly to ANC national organiser Johannes ka Shabangu. They have refused to comment on any other possible payments to the ANC.
Phosa has repeatedly denied involvement in the scheme, but confirmed he facilitated a botched attempt by Dolphin president Ketan Somaia to procure arms from South Africa for Kenya.
Phosa on Thursday confirmed hearing about Gray’s NIA meeting but dismissed the charges as a “desperate smear campaign” designed to buy Gray immunity from prosecution.
“This is simply a rehash of old unsubstantiated allegations by criminals who have been caught out and are panicking. I am relaxed. The forensic evidence [against Gray] is solid, so let them have their fun while they can.”
Phosa declined to comment further, but confirmed that Mkhwanazi was a business partner in a proposed multi-million rand casino and convention centre development in Maputo.
Mkhwanazi was in Maputo on business this week and was consistently unavailable for comment.
However, police confirm that they have reopened investigations into Mkhwanazi’s role in another of Gray’s “empowerment” companies: Air Excellence.
Air Excellence was secretly set up in 1996 by Gray, Mkhwanazi, former SA ambassador to Mozambique Mangisi Zitha, MEC for Finance Jacques Modipane and finance department head Sam Cronje.
The shady partnership’s articles of association stress that the names and roles of the politicians should be kept secret “at all costs” because Air Excellence’s luxury Bell Ranger helicopters would be leased to the government through another of Gray’s companies, Lowveld Helicopters.
The secret partnership appears to have broken up before making any real profit, but the auditor general has nevertheless repeatedly chastised Mpumalanga for chartering helicopters when cheaper alternatives existed.
Mpumalanga’s police commercial fraud unit confirmed on Thursday it was investigating Air Excellence.