Cape Argus E-dition

WHERE CR’S DOLLARS CAME FROM

SIZWE DLAMINI Falcons

SOUTH AFRICA and the world would never have known about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s alleged illicit financial mess if the millions of US dollars had not been stolen from his Phala Phala farm.

The Section 89 Independent Panel chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo cautioned that Ramaphosa was not being truthful by declaring that only $580 000 (an estimated R9.5 million) was stolen.

Information obtained during a probe by Independent Media’s investigation team, the Falcons, showed that at least $4m was stolen at Phala Phala. Also, information from sources with intimate knowledge of the entire saga revealed that more than $100m was hidden.

The Falcons probe found that about $140m (roughly R2 billion according to 2020 exchange rates) was allegedly moved through Waterkloof Air Force Base to Phala Phala where it was kept for more than a month before the theft in February.

The panel’s report cited an investigator in an audio clip who put it to a suspect that they knew that the suspects took about “20 million” to Namibia, albeit without clarity on the currency.

“Although in the audio clip it is not entirely clear what currency they were referring to when the amount of 20 million was mentioned, whether the investigator was referring to US$ or ZAR, this amount is far more than the US$580 000 that was alleged to have been hidden inside the sofa.

“If what the suspect and the investigator were saying is true about the money stolen, then there was more than US$580 000 hidden in the sofa. The question is where did this additional foreign currency come from?” the report stated.

In his affidavit, former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser stated that, although there was no certainty about the precise amount stolen, the quantum was speculated to be about $4m to $8m. Ramaphosa has publicly downplayed it to have been “far less”.

Ramaphosa had informed the panel the stolen money was the proceeds of a sale to a Sudanese national he identified as “Mr Mustafa Mohamed Ibrahim Hazim”.

He said Hazim came to the farm to view buffaloes that were for sale and paid $580 000 in cash to a Mr Ndlovu for the purchase of a number of the buffaloes.

However, Fraser in his affidavit alleged that Ramaphosa’s closest adviser, Bejani Chauke, was instrumental in illegally bringing into the country large sums of US dollars from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, and Equatorial Guinea.

Sources with intimate knowledge of the matter informed the Falcons that during Ramaphosa’s state visit to Saudi Arabia in July 2018, that country made a $20m donation to the ANC – which they referred to as Mandela’s party.

Later another $20m was donated to the party, bringing to $40m the total amount donated by Saudi Arabia.

The donations were allegedly on condition that the South African government did not give any form of support to Qatar. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar had historically been turbulent due to disagreements over the rightful ownership of several territories.

The sources said the Saudis allegedly also expected an exclusive Saudi-South Africa oil deal through an oil refinery to be built in Richards Bay and backed by state-owned Saudi Aramco.

Ramaphosa allegedly received a $10m donation from Qatar via Frenchborn Philippe Solomons, who lives in Doha. Solomons, who has links with US intelligence agencies, flew from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Qatar to collect the money and then to South Africa where he touched down at Fireblade private terminal at OR Tambo. Ramaphosa’s trusted man Chauke, who interestingly has a diplomatic passport, was there to collect the bag of cash.

In total, Ramaphosa allegedly received $50m in the form of “donations for the ANC”.

Ramaphosa, according to a source close to him, allegedly received $40m during his one-day trip to Egypt several weeks ago. The Falcons are still trying to verify the information about the money from Egypt.

The president allegedly also received an estimated $10m from Equatorial Guinea’s Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, who in return expected Ramaphosa to facilitate the return of his assets confiscated in France and also to “convince the courts” in South Africa to rule in his favour. According to information gathered from sources, he further received undisclosed amounts of money from the DRC and Ghana.

After the Phala Phala scandal broke, Ramaphosa allegedly roped in two businessmen to help him launder the money through dubious property deals, who the Falcons will only identify as Zahir and Karl. Sources, who cannot be named, revealed that about $20m was moved to Zahir and $10m was moved to Karl. The section 89 panel found that other than Hazim and Ndlovu’s names, no further particulars of the two were provided such as their passport or identity document numbers.

“Mr Hazim is said to be a Sudanese businessman. Yet no particulars are given of his business or the business he is involved in, the address where he conducts business from or any particulars that will enable anyone wishing to identify him or establish his whereabouts,” the report stated.

Yesterday, social media posts alleged that former minister Jeff Radebe had links with Hazim. But Radebe denied the claims.

“It has been brought to my attention that there is a story doing the rounds on social media that puts up my name in a story about Mustafa Mohamed Ibrahim Hazim. I want to categorically put on record that I don’t know this person, have never met him in my life, and have never spoken with him. I reserve my legal rights to sue for defamation anyone who wants to associate me with this man,” Radebe stated.

If what the suspect and the investigator were saying is true about the money stolen, then there was more than US$580 000 hidden in the sofa.

The question is where did this additional foreign currency come from?

REPORT

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa faces an additional 31 questions on the Phala Phala theft case. This time it is based on his version to the Parliamentary panel led by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo.

The panel’s queries, recorded in the panel report released on Wednesday, come as Deputy Public Protector Kholeka Gqaleka has kept Ramaphosa’s answer to the office’s initial 31 questions a closely guarded secret. In Ramaphosa’s version to the panel, a Sudanese businessman, Mustafa Hazim, walked into the Phala Phala game farm in Bela Bela, Limpopo, on Christmas Day of 2019. He carried at least $580 000 in cash. The purpose of this visit was to view animals.

On Hazim’s arrival at the farm and whether it was pre-arranged:

1. How did Mr Hazim know there were buffaloes for sale on the farm?

2. Was the sale advertised?

3. There are further difficulties with the large amount of cash he was carrying. And if he came to the farm without prior arrangement, how did he know that the purchase price would be $580 000, unless he was carrying more than $580 000 in cash?

4. How did he get this huge amount of cash into South Africa?

5. When he entered the country, did he declare to the South African authorities at the point of entry that he was carrying this amount of cash?

6. What is the source of the cash he had in his possession?

7. Did he produce any document indicating he had authority from his country to take this amount of money out of his country?

8. How did Mr Hazim carry this money into South Africa?

9. We find the behaviour of Mr Hazim in carrying more than half a million US (dollars) in cash into South Africa and thereafter transporting it to the farm to be unbusinessmanlike. We understand that customers pay cash or use money transfers for transactions. Why did Mr Hazim not pay by money transfer?

Regarding the storage or concealment of the money in the sofa, the panel asked:

10. Was the money stored in the sofa with the knowledge of the president?

11. We assume that Phala Phala Wildlife has a safe to keep cash safe until it can be banked. Indeed, the money was first stored in the safe. Why is it that “several staff members” have access to the safe which increases the risk of the safety of cash?

12. Does this mean that “several staff members” have keys to the safe or access to code for the safe?

13. The money was kept in the safe on December 25, 2019, and it was still in the safe on December 26, 2019. When did Mr Sylvestor Ndlovu’s (an employee at the farm who allegedly received the cash) concerns about keeping the money in the safe arise?

14. Perhaps it was because he was going away on holiday on December 30, 2019. On his return, why did he not take it out of the sofa?

15. At what stage was he going to give Hendrik von Wielligh (the farm manager) a report about the sale and the cash in the sofa?

16. Why was the money not taken to the bank before Mr Ndlovu left for the holiday on December 30, 2019?

17. Why did the president not take the money to the bank in light of the concerns expressed by Mr Ndlovu and the fact that Mr Ndlovu was going away on holiday?

18. Perhaps, the decision to “store” the money in the sofa was taken after the president had left the farm. But why did he not give Mr Ndlovu instructions to have the money banked pending the return of Mr Von Wielligh?

19. The money was kept in the sofa for him to return from holiday and process the transactions and thereafter bank the money. But did he?

20. Or did he know that among the herd of buffaloes on the farm, at least 20 were no longer for sale?

21. Did Mr Von Wielligh eventually return to the farm, and if so, when? 22. We know that Mr Von Wielligh was at the farm by February 10, 2020, because he reported the “security breach” to the president. Yet he did not report the stolen money, only Mr Ndlovu did. Why not?

23. Does this mean that as of February 10, 2020, Mr Von Wielligh, the general manager, had not yet been told about the sale of buffaloes and the cash in the sofa that was awaiting his return, for it to be processed and banked?

24. If Mr Von Wielligh had not yet been told about the money by February 10, 2020, what was the cause of the delay?

25. Did he know anything about the alleged sale?

26. Did he know about the money that was hidden inside the sofa?

27. If he did know, why was he not told about the money?

The panel concluded the cash would have been visible had it just been stored under a couch pillow, and it is likely that the sofa would have been opened underneath.

28. But why go through the process of turning the sofa upside down, opening it up and stuffing the inside of a sofa to store money that was destined for the bank shortly? This was a leather sofa, one suspect said.

On why the allegedly bought buffaloes were still in Phala Phala:

29. Why would anyone pay such a huge sum of money in cash and thereafter leave the goods without indicating when he would come back to collect the buffaloes or leave an address for the delivery of the animals?

30. We would have expected Mr Hazim to have carried sufficient cash to pay for the costs of administration and facilitation of the export of these animals. Who was to be responsible for these costs, Mr Hazim or the farm?

On the audio clip of a suspect or suspects interrogated about the theft:

31. If what the suspect and the investigator were saying is true about the money stolen, then there was more than $ 580 000 hidden in the sofa. The question is where did this additional foreign currency come from?

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2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

http://capeargus.pressreader.com/article/281672553970032

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