/ 28 September 2017

Former CEO of Gupta-linked firm turns whistleblower

Punitive: Trillian features in the public protector’s State of Capture report. Now the whistle-blower is under attack
Punitive: Trillian features in the public protector’s State of Capture report. Now the whistle-blower is under attack

Former Trillian Management Consulting chief executive Bianca Goodson has blown the whistle on how her former company brought government business to private firms 18 months after she resigned from the Gupta-linked firm. 

In a statement, accompanied by 65 annexures, Goodson alleges that the consulting subsidiary of Trillian Capital Partners helped facilitate access to government departments and state-owned enterprises to multinational consulting companies McKinsey and Oliver Wyman.

Trillian, she alleges, would receive up to half of the fees in the consulting contracts for helping to broker the state business.

Amabhungane reported on Wednesday night that she had intended to make the allegations public during a parliamentary inquiry into state capture, but turned to the Platform for the Protection of Whistleblowers in Africa after repeated delays. 

Goodson told amaBhungane that she relished the opportunity to reveal her what she knew to former public protector Thuli Madonsela, but ultimately grew frustrated in waiting to be called to Parliament.

“When [former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s] team approached me for a statement towards their state of capture report, I was excited because I felt that I finally had the opportunity to do the right thing,” She said. “I’ve been waiting for Parliament since [but] I don’t believe that I will be called and I feel that I’m not doing the right thing by just waiting and keeping quiet.”

Trillian responded to amaBhungane’s request for questions by denying Goodson’s allegations. 

“Trillian has never held itself out to be a gatekeeper of any institutions and is of the firm view that the skills base of its employees and its history of delivery was sufficient to procure work,” it said in a statement. “Trillian did not have any advantage over any of its competitors and Trillian had to compete on its offering.”