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Publication

THE TIMES

Page

4

Date

Fri 08 Sep 2017

AVE (ZAR)

29173.17

Oberoi hotel Gama denies his UAE stay had anything to do with getting top job

Transnet CEOmet Guptaally in Dubai

MERIT Siyabonga Gama, Group CEO of state-owned transport logistics company Transnet Picture: Robert Tshabalala

By KYLE COWAN

® Two months before being permanentlyappointed asTransnet Group CEO, SiyabongaGama enjoyed a two-night stay at the five-star Oberoi hotel in Dubai, apparently cour-tesy of the Gupta family.

Gama has confirmed meeting key Guptalieutenant Salim Essa during the stay butdenies the Guptas paid for him.

The leaked Gupta e-mails have revealed abooking confirmation e-mailed to Gupta-owned Sahara Systems chief executive AshuChawla under Gama's name.

Chawla then forwarded the e-mail to long-time Gupta family associate Essa, who untilrecently was the 60% majority owner of Tril-lian Capital Partners, a financial consultingfirm that netted millions in contracts withstate-owned entities Transnet and Eskom.

Trillian was formed when CEO Eric Woodbroke away from his partners at RegimentsCapital, a company that already had estab-lished business links with state-owned com-panies.

Wood last month bought Essa's shares inTrillian.

But when confronted with the allegationsthat the Guptas or their associateshad pickedup his tab, Gama insisted he had paid his ownway.

Gama also provided an invoice, which heclaimed to be from the Oberoi and which isstamped "Paid". The invoice does not showthe hotel's name or say who settled the billand was printed in June 2017, a year-and-a-half after he stayed at the hotel and aroundthe same time he was approached for com-ment by The Times for the first time.

The leaked e-mails reveal, however, that amonth after Gama's stay, in February 2016,the Oberoi e-mailed Chawla a statement forSahara Computer's outstanding account.

On the account, Gama's bill is listed asunpaid. The account included Denel boardchairman Dan Mantsha's bill and that of thenhead of Eskom Generation Matshela Koko.The amount is the same ason the invoiceGama provided.

"I can confirm that Salim Essa of Trillianwas a contractor of Transnet," Gama said.

"When I was in Davos, I received a requestfor a meeting from Essa. Since I travelled onEmirates Airlines, he suggested he meet me in

oon

"It is a factthat I [was]not appointed asGroup CEO for

Transnet because ofany Gupta

association. I am inmy current position

on merit alone"SIYABONGA GAMATransnet Group CEO

Dubai during the stop-over since he was inDubai at the time," Gama continued.

"I agreed and he suggested that he willreserve a hotel room, which I paid for," hesaid, adding that the Trillian and Regimentscontracts were later cancelled by Transnet.

Gama explained that Essa "raised the issueof his involvement in Trillian, which wasbeing formed as an offshoot of Regiments".

"[Essa said] the expertisewould remainthe same ascore resources would migratefrom Regiments and that the quality of workfor Transnet would be unaffected," Gamasaid.

Gama was booked to stay in a de luxe suitefor two days between January 22 and 24 2016.

Gama was permanently appointed asGCEO in April 2016 after acting in the posi-tion from April 2015.

Flight bookings found in the leaked e-mails show that Ajay Gupta was in Dubai forhalf a day at the same time.

Gama denied having ever met Ajay, sayinghe only met Essa in Dubai and later con-firmed he had met Essa on previous occasionsat Transnet offices."It is a fact that I [was] notappointed asGroup CEO for Transnet becauseof any Gupta association. I am in my currentposition on merit alone after serving in anacting GCEO position for over a year.

"Prior to that I had come through the ranksof Transnet divisions that I managed andturned around to profitability," Gama added.

Transnet contracts with Regiments and

Trillian were cancelled in November 2016,Gama said.

"This was after the contracts became thesubject of a legal dispute between Trillian andRegiments. Our decision was based on theneed to safeguard Transnet from possible rep-utational harm as its name was cited in theirprivate proceedings. When I was appointed,Regiments were already a service provider toTransnet," Gama said.

In April this year, Gama slammed thoselinking Transnet with dodgy deals with theGupta family, saying allegations against thefamily were nothing more than "alternativefacts".

"I am not aware that aswe sit here todaythere is any member of the Gupta family whohas been criminally convicted and thereforerequires to be blacklisted and must not doany business with anyone," Gama told theFinancial Mail at the Africa CEO conference inGeneva.

Gama has worked at Transnet since 1994and was CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, thegroup's largest division, from 2005 to 2015,when he was appointed as acting Group CEO.

Transnet has come under intense scrutinyover a number of multimillion-rand dealswith companies believed to be linked to theGupta family.

Information from the leaked Gupta e-mailsrevealed a contract between Hong Kong-based company Tequesta, 100%-owned byEssa, and locomotive manufacturer ChinaSouth Rail (CSR), which resulted in Tequestanetting around R5.3-billion in "consultancyfees" since 2014.

CSR, one of four companies, was awardedthe lion's share of Transnet's R50-billionlocomotive procurement project in 2014.

Gama in July this year announced thatTransnet had appointed Werksmans attorneysto conduct an investigation into these claims,which include whether or not Transnet wasovercharged and if it followed its own procur-ment processes.

Advocate Geoff Budlender was also taskedto investigate Trillian by its then board chair-man, Tokyo Sexwale.

His report, released at the end of June2017, said Transnet paid around R105-millionto Trillian between April and June 2016 -some ofwhich appeared to be work Regi-ments had actually done.