Former Western Cape finance minister Leon Markovitz on Thursday denied a claim by German fugitive Jurgen Harksen that he had received a million rand bribe for granting a licence to a hotel group for the Cape Town Convention Centre.
Markovitz was testifying before the Desai Commission which is investigating allegations that Harksen made donations to the Democratic Alliance.
During his testimony to the commission Harksen claimed that Markovitz had told him he had received R1-million from the Arabella hotel group after they had won the contract for providing a hotel in the convention centre.
Markovitz denied this and said he felt very hurt by the allegation.
He said the granting of the licence had been done in a proper and legal manner.
He said he had played a role in negotiating with the Arabella group and had secured a price for the province of R16-million.
He said this was R2-million more than the amount that had been mandated by the province.
Markovitz said the province had received the total sum.
Questioned by his lawyer Peter Hodes, SC, he said it was possible that Harksen had heard about him securing the extra R2-million and based his allegation on this.
Markovitz is continuing his testimony. – Sapa