Reliable insiders say Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) chief Trevor Abrahams has been suspended pending a forensic investigation of alleged contract irregularities involving his girlfriend. The allegations were revealed in last week’s Mail & Guardian [Aviation chief’s sweetheart connection].
The CAA board is said to have decided on the four-week suspension at a meeting on Wednesday night. As board chairperson Israel Skosana is in the United Kingdom, it appears the board meeting was chaired by CAA deputy chairperson Zukile Nomvete.
M&G‘s persistent attempts yesterday to confirm the suspension with the CAA’s senior communications manager, Trevor Davids, were to no avail.
Davids refused to answer “yes” or “no”, insisting that the M&G put its question in writing. When the question was sent, he promised to release a statement to all media at 2.30pm.
The statement had not arrived by the M&G‘s deadline. Asked why, Davids said he was waiting for Nomvete to sign it, and that the latter was in a meeting.
Davids’s private company, Trevor Davids Communications, was formerly the CAA’s communications consultant, and played a role in one of Abrahams’s controversial contracts.
Insiders say the investigation ordered by the CAA board goes beyond the M&G‘s report of last week. Details of what other activities may be probed could not be obtained yesterday.
A controversial figure said to be close to Minister of Transport Dullah Omar, Abrahams answers to Omar and has overall responsibility for air transport safety in South Africa.
Last week the M&G reported that his fiancee, Carole Fortuin, was employed by a company that landed a contract to stage a CAA golf day in Houghton, Johannesburg, two years ago.
Fortuin and Abrahams, as directors and shareholders of event management company Mpumelelo Communications, unsuccessfully tendered to put on another golf day in May last year.
Despite this, Fortuin did benefit from the event. She was sub-contracted by Trevor Davids Communications — which played a major role in overseeing the golf day — and her payment was channelled into Mpumelelo’s bank account.
Also implicated is Fortuin’s brother, Rafael, who, through his sister, in September last year won a R15 000 contract to supply the CAA with pilots’ shirts.
The M&G established that on Abrahams’s instructions, a CAA official asked Carole Fortuin to find a company that could supply the authority with the shirts. She made contact with Rafael, who landed the deal. She also delivered the shirts to the CAA offices.
The M&G‘s investigation also revealed that Rafael Fortuin does not have a trading company. Fortuin confirmed complaints by CAA officials who said some of the shirts were of poor quality. He said he had taken them back and “fixed them up”.
Last week, Abrahams denied there had been a conflict of interest in the contracts, as he had not participated in or influenced their award. Where he was aware of a potential conflict — as in Mpumelelo’s bid for the September 2001 golf day — he had declared it.
“Having an interest in a supplier does not disqualify the supplier from providing a service to your company,” he said. “You must not, however, be involved in or influence the decision-making on the award of the contract.”