The Gupta family has denied it attempted to capture the R51 billion Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) tender on behalf of a bidder in 2012, as alleged in a letter written by former CEO Lucky Montana.<\/p>\n
The denial comes as the AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, writing in the Sunday Times on Sunday, revealed a new example of alleged state capture by the Guptas.<\/p>\n
At the basis of the allegation is a letter that Montana wrote in 2012 to then Prasa board chairperson Sfiso Buthelezi.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Montana accuses the Guptas and the president\u2019s son Duduzane Zuma of trying to take control of Prasa\u2019s board to ensure their alleged bidder \u2013 the China South Rail (CSR) \u2013 won the R51 billion rolling stock tender to supply Prasa with 600 commuter trains.<\/p>\n
This adds a new twist to the Prasa locomotive saga. It has seen the resignation of Montana and a report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela that criticised Montana\u2019s role in the matter. It resulted in Prasa chair Popo Molefe seeking legal action to end Swifambo Rail Leasing\u2019s contract in 2015. This week, Molefe filed papers trying to recoup R2.6bn from company for the 13 locomotives.<\/p>\n
The City Press reported on Sunday that Montana allegedly instructed his very own \u201cgo-to IT guy\u201d to wipe clean a laptop that was thought to have contained \u201csensitive\u201d documents relating to the troubled state-owned entity after he had been dismissed.<\/p>\n
The alleged letter claims Montana attended meetings with Transport minister Ben Martins and other transport ministry advisers, where he was introduced to representatives of Gupta family and Duduzane Zuma.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had taken issue with the representative of the Gupta family over what I considered to be attempts on their part to \u2018extort\u2019 money from (the bidders),\u201d he reportedly wrote.<\/p>\n
Award-winning investigative journalists Sam Sole and Stefaans Br\u00fcmmer, who authored the Sunday report, said the letter claims the Guptas proposed giving CSR \u201cshares\u201d to Montana and demanded Martins restructure the board.<\/p>\n
The letter appears to have been a threat on Montana\u2019s part to quit if the board restructure \u2013 which he claimed was imminent \u2013 was not halted. The letter seemed to work, the restructure was averted and French-backed Gibela won the bid.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Fin24 on Saturday ahead of the Sunday report, Gupta spokesperson Gary Naidoo \u2013 who had seen the letter and was sent a list of questions by\u00a0AmaBhungane \u2013\u00a0 said \u201cthe allegations are without foundation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no interest absolutely in the rolling stock tender that\u2019s been put out and therefore we totally deny any of the claims in the supposed letter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Naidoo questioned who the Gupta representative was, saying \u201cwe believe anyone can claim to represent the family\u201d.<\/p>\n
AmaBhungane sent Montana\u2019s letter to the Guptas, but not in its original format to protect their source. The Guptas told them they would not comment on the story without seeing the original.<\/p>\n
The letter \u201cdoes not have any authentication or verification as far as we can see\u201d, said Naidoo. However, both Montana and Buthelezi confirmed the authenticity of the letter to AmaBhungane in the Sunday Times report.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no bearings on anything that is happening with the current case with Prasa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He claimed there is a \u201cpolitically-coordinated campaign against us\u201d being conducted with the use of the media. \u201cWe believe strongly that this is another example of media capture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While this story has a clear source, the media often runs stories with unnamed sources to protect the identities of government officials and other high ranking officials, who could lose their jobs for sharing sensitive information.<\/p>\n
However, Naidoo called on those with information that shows the Guptas are indeed guilty of state capture to \u201cbring it out\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut it out there, charge us if you will, but you can\u2019t make unfounded statements and have unnamed sources because then it\u2019s just all innuendo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the Guptas have not had any formal correspondence with the public protector, who is said to be working on an investigation into the Guptas regarding accusations of state capture.<\/p>\n
Madonsela said in June she was seeking additional resources so she could sufficiently probe the allegations.<\/p>\n
While the Democratic Alliance laid charges of corruption against the Guptas in March, Naidoo said they have received no indication of this legal matter, or any other related legal matter.<\/p>\n
Asked why the Guptas don\u2019t take legal action to clear their name of state capture, Naidoo said: \u201cThe family is a very private family so they wouldn\u2019t really like to go too deep into the public sphere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, having said that, they reserve their rights over various things that have happened over the last few months,\u201d he said. \u201cFor now, we\u2019d like some peace and quiet and want things to go on as normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
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