Zuma: The money trail

The Scorpions’s investigation into Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s alleged R500 000-a-year arms bribe demand resurfaces in court next week when an alleged frontman for hidden interests faces charges of failing to produce evidence.

Accountant Ian Pierce is a director of and major shareholder in Futuristic Business Solutions (FBS), an arms logistics company that is also a shareholder in African Defence Systems (ADS) — the firm at the centre of the investigations into Zuma.

Court papers show that the Scorpions are probing FBS for the possibility of covert links with Zuma. Pierce is to appear in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Pretoria next Wednesday after he allegedly failed to supply investigators with documentation relating to FBS.

Last week the Mail & Guardian reported that Zuma was being investigated for an alleged attempt to secure a R500 000-a-year bribe from Thomson-CSF (now renamed Thales), a French defence conglomerate that, with ADS, was part of the German consortium chosen to supply South Africa with four new corvette warships [Scorpions probe Jacob Zuma].

The payment was allegedly discussed at a meeting between Zuma, Alain Thetard — a representative of Thales — and Schabir Shaik, who is a director of ADS and a personal financial adviser to Zuma. ADS is a local subsidiary of the French group.

Both Zuma and Shaik have vehemently denied the allegations. Thales declined to comment.

An affidavit sworn by senior Scorpions advocate William Downer in August last year indicates that investigators were searching for evidence of a possible hidden beneficial interest by Zuma in ADS and that it was considered “reasonable to assume” that this might be via ADS’s South African minority shareholders, which include both Shaik’s Nkobi group and FBS, which holds 20% of ADS.

“The covert link may be through the owners of Thomson [South Africa], namely Nkobi investments and ultimately Schabir Shaik … or FBS Holdings and its owners, namely [Tshepo] Molai, [Yusuf] Mahomed, [Ian] Pierce and [Lambert] Moloi.”

FBS, which is led by retired Defence Force general Lambert Moloi, is also a significant shareholder in Cell C. Company representatives could not be reached for comment.

In his affidavit Downer described the Scorpions’s failed attempts to subpoena documents from FBS that would settle the question of any possible covert shareholding or interest.

Downer said: “The fact that FBS has been recalcitrant in complying with summonses to produce the original documentation as described below, reinforces the suspicion against it and its directors.”

He alleged FBS had failed to comply adequately with the summons: “When summonsed finally to produce certain documentation, including original cash books and ledgers, the summons was ignored by Pierce … Molai claimed the documents required were with Pierce. The legal representative undertook to assist in obtaining the documents, to no avail.”

Eventually Pierce was charged in terms of the National Prosecuting Authority Act for failing to supply the documentation. He is defending the charge. The case is due to begin on Wednesday in the specialised commercial crime court in Pretoria.

Downer’s affidavit indicated that FBS itself was also the subject of investigation for suspected fraud or corruption in relation to arms-deal contracts. He refers to an alleged “undue payment” to FBS for the supply of logistic support services and/or “the solicitation/payment/agreement of undue payments involving entities directly or indirectly linked to African Defence Systems, Futuristic Business Solutions and/or Thomson CSF.”

This appears to refer to the number of contracts obtained by FBS on very favourable terms in spite of what Downer calls “inconsistent evidence” of their ability to perform.

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