When Schabir Shaik heard that his accountant was leaving Nkobi
Holdings he stopped her final salary, the Durban High Court heard on Wednesday.
Former Nkobi accountant Ceila Bester, who is being cross-examined in the fraud and corruption trial against Shaik, told the court she had resigned because she was unhappy with the way in which Nkobi did its books, and in particular the write-off
of various accounts.
Bester said eventually she had had a very angry meeting with Shaik.
“I was highly explosive,” said Bester.
She told Shaik she was leaving because she was not happy with the company’s journal entries. Her salary was eventually paid after that showdown, she said.
In her evidence, Bester said she did not believe that Nkobi was a true empowerment company but admitted she was referring to what was happening at the group’s head office.
During cross examination the court heard how Nkobi’s financial director Colin Isaacs, whom Bester described as Shaik’s “right hand man”, had had so much to do that he never finished any of his tasks.
She said Shaik was angry that the annual financial statement for 1999 was not finalised.
He got an outside accountant, Satish Ramsumar, who was already on retainer with the group for other jobs, to oversee the finalisation of Nkobi’s financial statement.
Bester said this was to take the workload off Isaacs, but added that Shaik had the habit of throwing everyone “into 500 things” at the same time.
Bester earlier told the court that she was “extremely aggravated and agitated” by the write-off of R1,2-million as development costs for Prodiba, a company in which the Nkobi group had a significant stake.
Prodiba is the company responsible for producing South Africa’s credit card-style driver’s licences. Bester alleges the company received a contract through its “political connectivity”.
She said she had been upset with the procedure of writing off loan accounts.
Bester said there were lots of entries in the company’s books which did not make sense. She also could never get any answers about the entries from Shaik.
She said there were “lots of payments made to ministers and written off as development costs” which in her mind constituted “pure bribery”.
She said Shaik earned R20Â 000 a month but the entry in the books was reversed, thereby increasing the income of the company.
She said he also never paid much tax, which had made her angry.
She said “Shaik was not what he appeared to be to me” and that he was advising Zuma on his financial affairs while he could not run his own affairs or his overdraft.
She said Shaik introduced himself as Zuma’s financial advisor, mentioned it in conversations, and that Zuma visited the Nkobi offices a few times.
Prosecutor Billy Downer also read out extracts from Shaik’s CV in which he described himself as a senior advisor to Zuma.
Bester said there was no loan account in Nkobi for Zuma and that payments made on Zuma’s car and flat rental went to Shaik’s loan account in Nkobi.
The court also heard how the company regularly got calls from Wesbank about vehicle payments owed by Zuma. She said when Shaik was irritated with Zuma, he did not make the payments.
She said when she joined the accounting side of the business she found the group’s books were two years in arrears.
They were also in arrears with pay-as-you-earn and value added tax payments to the SA Revenue Service — probably because of the cash flow difficulties.
Bester said she wrote several memos to Shaik about the company’s finances because “we were constantly in overdraft” and the cash flow was tight.
She described Shaik as a volatile person who “rants and raves” and “stressed” people. She said he also swore at his employees.
Bester said she threatened to leave the company because he spoke to her in a demeaning manner but after discussing it he had apologised.
In her resignation letter dated 14 December 1999 Bester, [known as Celia Muiznieks then] said she had joined Nkobi because she believed in the upliftment and empowerment of disadvantaged and poorer communities.
However, she said “all I have seen to date is enrichment for yourself and certain ministers to the detriment of the staff”.
The letter which was written while Shaik was overseas said, “If you, as the financial advisor to the deputy minister [Zuma] are not transparent, heaven help South Africa when you formally return to politics.
“The funds being paid to the ministers should be taxed in their hands as well as your income.”
Bester said Shaik knew what was happening with the company’s books on a daily basis. However, he had “left things too late”.
She said Shaik had a special relationship dating back to the struggle era with Paul Gearing, a tax specialist from auditing firm David Strachan and Taylor, and that some financial statements were signed by Gearing before she or the financial director Colin Isaacs were consulted.
In her resignation letter she said, “I do not like the way Paul has handled your individual income and the so-called development costs, which he has written off.”
At the start of Tuesday’s proceedings Judge Hillary Squires dismissed with costs an application by e.tv, talk radio stations 702 and CapeTalk, as well as SABC radio, for the right to broadcast live or delayed extracts from the trial. – Sapa
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