Documents obtained by the Mail & Guardian belie claims by former Vista University administrative chief Reuben Mbuli that there was no conflict of interest when he accepted a hefty ”retainer” from a businessman trying to secure work from the university.
The M&G published evidence last month suggesting Mbuli had taken tens of thousands of rands in backhanders from IT consultant Jim Miller, whose companies, Vital and DSE Technologies, won multimillion-rand outsourcing contracts from Vista.
Mbuli, an advocate, is now a senior investigator with the Public Protector. A fortnight ago he wrote a letter, published in the M&G, in which he claimed Miller had paid him the ”retainer” in terms of a personal legal brief that was unrelated to Miller’s IT business with the university.
Mbuli did not say what legal work he did for Miller, declaring it was covered by lawyer-client confidentiality. And he sought to distance himself from the IT contracts with Vista, saying they were not his responsibility.
But the M&G has obtained transcripts of evidence given by Miller in a liquidation hearing that contradict Mbuli’s explanation. And the M&G has copies of correspondence in which Mbuli intervened with the university vice-chancellor in ways favourable to Miller’s IT companies.
At a 2003 liquidation hearing into the collapse of DSE, Miller was repeatedly asked if he was aware of payments made to Mbuli. Far from saying Mbuli was paid for legal work unrelated to the IT contracts, he denied knowledge of any payment whatsoever. ”I certainly do not remember any payments being made,” Miller replied under oath.
And undermining Mbuli’s present argument that he had no authority over the IT contracts, Miller described Mbuli as the person who ”was representing the university” in the contract negotiations.
Other documents confirming that Mbuli was intimately involved with the contracts — and that he received payments not from Miller personally but entities in the DSE-Vital stable — include:
In July 1999 Mbuli wrote to Miller at DSE to inform him that its tender to provide IT services was successful.
In November 1999 Mbuli received his first known payment from a DSE-linked entity, when R10 000 was transferred from the Empowerment Trust, a DSE shareholder.
In April 2000 Mbuli deposited a DSE company cheque for R10 000 in his bank account.
In June 2000 Mbuli recommended that a multimillion-rand IT maintenance contract be signed between the university and Miller’s Vital.
In late June 2000 DSE wrote to Mbuli complaining that the university was in breach of its obligations in terms of the July 1999 tender award by not finalising the contract.
On September 28 2000 Mbuli received R10 000 from a company registered to Miller’s wife — on the same day that the university’s IT director copied Mbuli a letter requesting an interim agreement with DSE be extended.
On October 17 2000 Mbuli wrote to the Vista vice-chancellor, recommending the signing of the interim agreement with DSE. On the same day R10 000 was deposited into Mbuli’s account from an unknown source.
On December 20 2000 Mbuli wrote to Miller informing him of the extension of an interim agreement between the university and DSE. On the same day he personally deposited a R10 000 cheque from Vital; two days earlier he had banked R10 000 from one of DSE’s subcontractors.
In May 2001 Mbuli recommended to Vista’s vice-chancellor that it should pay a R417 000 bill from DSE that the Vista finance director was disputing.
By 2002, when Mbuli, with Miller’s help, was applying for a position on the KwaZulu-Natal Gambling Board, Mbuli recommended settling another dispute with DSE over a bill for R469 000.
The M&G has records of about R150 000 in payments to Mbuli, but not all can be attributed to Miller or DSE, Vital and linked entities. At least two of the cheques where the drawer was DSE or Vital were deposited by Mbuli in person.
Asked to explain why he had received payment for a private brief from Miller via companies that were contractors to Vista, Mbuli said: ”Mr Miller must explain why he made use of various companies to pay the retainer.”
Miller has not responded to the M&G’s queries. At the liquidation hearing he not only denied knowledge of the payments to Mbuli, but said a letter showing that money paid to Mbuli was claimed as expenses on behalf of DSE shareholder the Empowerment Trust was ”falsified”.
Miller allegedly wrote the letter in 2001 to forensic investigator Steve Harcourt-Cooke, who had been hired by another DSE shareholder to investigate a cash haemorrhage at the company.
Miller said he had never heard of Harcourt-Cooke. However, the M&G is in possession of notes Harcourt-Cooke took of a detailed interview with Miller in March 2001. This week Harcourt-Cooke confirmed that he had personally questioned Miller at the time as part of the DSE investigation.
Like Miller, Mbuli made no mention of the ”personal legal brief” when Vista discovered the payments and confronted him. He told the M&G: ”They did not give me a chance to respond. Before I could respond, they took a decision [to end his employment contract].”
A Vista source claimed Mbuli was given a week to respond, but failed to do so.
Former Vista manager Hartmut Winkler told the M&G: ”If Dr Mbuli did legal work for Miller, I am surprised that he would think that this did not constitute a severe conflict of interest.
”After all, Dr Mbuli was part of the University Management Committee, which is where major operational decisions would be taken. He was the legal adviser to the vice-chancellor, and contracts and agreements were supposed to be vetted by Dr Mbuli’s office before approval. He also led the university’s legal defences, including several unsuccessful ones against the broader ‘DSE syndicate’.”