Kebble+cash+trail+leads+to+BEE+circle,+Chiara+Carter,+S+Independent

Sunday Independent, Johannesburg, March 04, 2007 //Edition 1//
=Kebble cash trail leads to BEE circle=

//Names of high flyers in the ruling party and big business are appearing on the Scorpions' search warrants//


 * Chiara Carter**

The searchlight in the Scorpions investigation of the Kebble empire, which led to countrywide raids and seizures of documents this week, has swung onto the millions of rands allegedly paid to political parties and in business deals involving key figures linked to the ANC Youth League.

This emerged as the National Prosecuting Authority, backed by forensic auditors, swooped on more than two dozen business premises and private homes in its quest to unravel the tangled skein of crooked dealings left by murdered mining magnate Brett Kebble.

According to the investigators, scores of bank accounts and financial trails leading abroad are being examined, as are the financial affairs of many South African VIPs.

The Scorpions are looking into 59 charges of fraud, theft and reckless trading with a Kebble connection, estimated to involve between R2,2 billion and R3 billion.

Court documents reveal that the charges being investigated include fraud, theft, corruption, contravention of the Companies Act, of the Organised Crime Act and of exchange control regulations.

Two forensic audits into the affairs of Kebble's companies - Johannesburg Consolidated Investments and Randgold & Exploration - are believed to indicate that more than R25 million was paid to the ANC and its affiliates by Kebble and companies linked to him. Other political parties received lesser amounts.

The auditors' investigation into the pillaging of shares and into black economic empowerment (BEE) fraud uncovered "consultants' fees", loans and bonuses listed as paid by Kebble and his companies to a number of prominent individuals in the ANC and in BEE circles.

The auditors' reports were not made public, partly to protect the Scorpions' investigations. The reports also list what appear to be payments made to the ANC totalling more than R25 million, including R5 570 000 to the ANC in the Western Cape, R930 000 to the ANC Youth League and R250 000 to the ANC in the Eastern Cape.

The names of three prominent business people linked to the ANC Youth League are listed on this week's Scorpions search warrants: Lunga Ncwana, Songezo Mjongile and Andile Nkhulu.

Also linked to the investigations is ANC heavyweight and businessman Chris Nissen. Under investigation are Kebble's property transactions, including the purchase of Boschendal Estate in the Cape, an acquisition to which Nissen and Ncwana were linked. Nissen is also closely associated with South Atlantic Fisheries, whose offices were on the Scorpions list of premises to be raided.

The Scorpions were granted permission to raid 29 properties countrywide this week to search for records relating to the allegations against Kebble and his associates.

Their preliminary list of suspects named 29 individuals and companies - including some well-known business figures. Notable among them was Kebble's father, Roger, and financial director Hennie Buitendag.

Other people listed include Patricia Beale, the former company secretary of JCI, and Clinton Nassif, Kebble's head of security and owner of the CNSG security company, which was also raided. Nassif has been implicated in Kebble's murder.

Companies linked to Glenn Agliotti, arrested for Kebble's murder in September 2005, including Springlights, Misty Mountains and Maverick Masupatsela, are being investigated.

Other current and former company directors whose premises were raided include Sello Rasethaba (Matodzi Resources), Brenda Madumise (R&E), Quinton George (Trinity Holdings), Mafika Mkwanazi (Matodzi and Western Areas), Thabo Mosololi (Tsogo Sun Holdings), Paul Main and Charles Cornwall (Kebble friends from the Plettenberg Bay polo set), Gareth Griffiths and George Pool, the company secretary of JCI.

Companies listed on the warrants include Aflease, HNW Administrators & Advisory and Trinity Asset Management, a Cape Town company run by close friends of Kebble.

The financial institutions involved in the morass include most of South Africa's major banks, as well as international financial houses and top legal firms.

The Scorpions raiders were also apparently searching for correspondence involving, among others, former Transnet head Mafika Mkwanazi, former Namibian prime minister Hage Geingob, former judge Willem Heath and President Thabo Mbeki's former economic adviser, Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu.


 * From: http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3713117**

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