Investigations into billionaire Dave King’s tax affairs have brought to light the activities of a network of fixers around Glenn Agliotti, accused of murdering mining magnate Brett Kebble.
Agliotti and some of his associates have boasted, apparently falsely, of being able to solve tax problems — and appear to have wrung considerable sums out of other business people.
King told the Mail & Guardian last week that Agliotti offered to help him reduce his tax bill in 2002, but he declined. This was confirmed by a sworn statement Agliotti gave to the Scorpions, saying: ”I approached Dave King but he did not pay any money.”
King said he felt vindicated by Agliotti’s affidavit.
The M&G has established, however, that key associates of Agliotti — nicknamed ”The Landlord” — were involved in King’s disputed ”settlement” with tax authorities.
According to independent sources familiar with various investigations into Agliotti and others in his circle, two people have become crucial business associates since his arrest. Both have been involved in promises to fix tax problems.
The first is businesswoman Tania Volschenk. In an affidavit Agliotti described how he had given National Intelligence Agency boss Manala Manzini a statement exculpating police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi: ”A person by the name of Tanya [sic] Volschenk was present and known to me. Tanya typed the [Selebi] statement on her laptop.”
Volschenk has confirmed knowing Agliotti, but denied playing any part in taking this statement.
The M&G has discovered that Volschenk is now the Landlord’s landlord, having bought Agliotti’s Bryanston home on November 29 last year.
The purchase price is recorded as R5,7-million, which would have put roughly R4,5-million into Agliotti’s pocket, relieving him of any cash flow problems since his arrest. A year later, he and his family still live in the house.
The second close Agliotti associate is former policeman Jacques Nel, who is said to have played a role in introducing King to the former South African Revenue Service (Sars) high-flyer, Leonard Radebe.
A brochure for his security company, Lateral Solutions, says of Nel: ”As a counter-terrorist and close protection specialist, Jacques’s knowledge and experience gained in the SAPS has been utilised by the likes of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, King Goodwill Zwelithini and Queen Elizabeth.”
King admits Nel was present at a number of meetings he had with Radebe and others on tax matters, and visited his holiday home.
Radebe told the M&G Nel, whom he had met some years earlier, introduced him to King.
Company records show Radebe is a director of AST Africa Trading 449, the same shelf company that is apparently the legal vehicle for Nel’s company, Lateral Solutions.
Radebe insists Nel was his main contact but admits to having met Agliotti and Volschenk. King denies knowing Volschenk.
However, Volschenk made introductions on behalf of Delville Whatley, the tax consultant King claims was nominated by Sars to act as an intermediary for his settlement payment.
The M&G has established that Whatley, Volschenk and Agliotti — and perhaps Nel — participated in another tax negotiation that appears to have netted them more than R2-million.
According to the businessman, who confirmed details but requested anonymity, he was looking to move about R50-million offshore via an investment in Zambia.
His own adviser, Rob Wurdeman, introduced him to Volschenk, who brought Whatley along.
”I don’t really know what Tania’s role was,” the businessman told the M&G. ”Whatley was a tax consultant who had apparently done this before — They had a system of getting funds out of the country legally —”
The businessman was cagey about the slice Whatley and the others would take. However, the M&G has established from two separate sources that a total of more than R2-million was paid to Whatley, Volschenk and members of Agliotti’s family before the businessman pulled out of the arrangement. One source claimed Nel also benefited, but Wurdeman denied Nel was involved. Volschenk, Nel and Whatley declined to comment.
The M&G has also independently confirmed that Brett Kebble’s father, Roger, paid at least R8-million through Agliotti in return for promises to resolve his tax bill. This did not happen.
‘This might look a bit odd’
The battle between Dave King and revenue authorities escalated last week as King continued to insist that a disputed ”settlement” of tax claims against him was valid, despite proliferating questions about the credibility of his claims.
King insists that he negotiated with Sars general manager of customs Leonard Radebe and private tax practitioner Delville Whatley to reduce his R2,4-billion tax bill to R300-million. Sars says the agreement and supporting documents are fraudulent.
Radebe has quit Sars ahead of a planned disciplinary hearing, and a police investigation is under way.
King insists Whatley was mandated by Sars to handle the settlement, and to receive the cash for onward payment to the revenue service.
As proof, he cites a letter from Sars’s Germiston office confirming the mandate, and print-outs of what purports to be email correspondence detailing the negotiation.
However, growing evidence calls into question the legitimacy of the documentation, as well as the bona fides of Whatley, Radebe and the others involved in the settlement process.
Crucial to estimating the credibility of King’s version are two sets of questions:
Is the documentation presented by King as evidence authentic, and if not, did he become aware of the fact that it had been faked?
Was it plausible to have expected Radebe and other associates of Agliotti to conduct a negotiation involving such sums on behalf of Sars?
Sars says the letter produced by King allegedly confirming the mandate given to Whatley is signed by one P Erasmus. There is no such employee at Sars’s Germiston branch, they say, and the office number cited on the letter corresponds to a toilet.
Even more telling, the settlement agreement and the letter confirming the mandate use different tax numbers. The number on the settlement document refers to King, while the one in the letter, the M&G understands from impeccable sources, refers to Roger Kebble, who had accepted Agliotti’s offer of help in resolving his own tax problems (see accompanying story).
”Immediately we became aware of the alleged settlement, in early July, we told King it was not valid, but he persisted in presenting it as such,” Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay said.
King countered this week by providing what he said were emails he sent to Radebe. ”[My tax adviser] — told me that you have asked to meet at my house at 18h30 on Sunday evening to discuss the way forward,” reads one message, dated 23 July.
King declined to provide electronic copies of the emails for authentication, saying he had only hard copies.
Sars officials have told the M&G that forensic examinations of its computers had uncovered no trace of the emails.
King is adamant this is untrue. ”I am aware that [Sars] seized emails from Radebe,” he said, explaining that his information came from Jacques Nel, who is friendly with Radebe. King said he would compel Sars to disclose the emails in court.
The M&G asked King how he could have believed that Radebe, whose job has nothing to do with income or corporate tax, was in a position to negotiate; and whether he did not find it strange that discussions were facilitated by a former bodyguard (Nel) and a small-time tax practitioner. King said he had been introduced to Radebe by a Noel Clegg, who advised him on VAT issues from time to time, and had no reason to doubt him. Once he met Radebe and confirmed his seniority, he insists, he had complete confidence.
Confronted with details of the network around Agliotti, Volschenk, Nel and Whatley, King conceded that it might ”look a bit odd”. However, he was unaware of these issues at the time, and they would have no bearing on his determination to enforce the settlement.