Former executive turned whistleblower says he is being held responsible for contracts received by his employer rather than him.
Picture File: Whistleblower and former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi speaks during an interview on November 18, 2021 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Rapport/Elizabeth Sejake)
Former Bosasa chief operating officer turned whistleblower Angelo Agrizzi says he will seek leave to appeal a Pretoria High Court order requiring him to pay the state R1.66 billion plus interest, arguing that the amount represents government contracts awarded to Bosasa rather than money he personally received.
“I think the judge got this one wrong,” says Agrizzi, who represented himself in court.
“I respect the court. I am applying for leave to appeal against the judgment, as the law entitles me to, and the order is subject to that appeal.
“I do not dispute my conviction. I pleaded guilty, and I gave evidence before the Zondo commission.
“The appeal concerns one question: how much money did I actually receive?”
Last week the court ordered Agrizzi to pay the state R1.66 billion, including interest, and the costs of the state’s legal counsel.
Judge Mokhina Mosopa delivered the confiscation judgment, citing several non-disclosures, such as Agrizzi’s 50% ownership in a company called Spilacraft, which owns a property in Ruimsig outside Johannesburg, as well as numerous investments and annuities, and a R1.75 million loan.
The court found that Agrizzi concealed the sale of an Italian property previously pledged as security for his release on bail while facing corruption and money-laundering charges.
Agrizzi denies this, saying the state knew about the sale and subsequently replaced the property’s bail security with R1.5 million held in trust.
The National Prosecuting Authority has welcomed the ruling, saying Agrizzi’s participation in Bosasa’s corrupt enterprise justified attributing its proceeds to him.
How it all happened
Bosasa, later renamed African Global Operations, was a facilities management company headed by the late Gavin Watson, whose family was known for its anti-apartheid activism.
Watson turned his political connections into an empire of graft, securing multi-billion deals with the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) and Home Affairs.
Agrizzi supplied the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture with reams of evidence, including videos showing cash being stacked into bags, allegedly for payment to corrupt government officials.
Agrizzi’s evidence at the commission helped investigators identify about R2.4 billion in corrupt contracts received by the company between 2000 and 2016.
National Treasury figures put the total in contracts received by Bosasa at more than R12 billion.
Agrizzi puzzled by the amount
Agrizzi says the R1.66 billion confiscation order is puzzling, since the state previously advanced alternative confiscation amounts of about R53 million or R62 million, although it maintained its claim for the full contract value.
“The R1.66 billion is not money I received,” he says. “The state’s own heads of argument describe it as the value of the contracts the Department of Correctional Services awarded to Bosasa. I was Bosasa’s chief operating officer, an employee. I was never a director or a shareholder of Bosasa. The contract payments were made to the company, not to me.”
There’s little hope of recovering anything like R1.66 billion from Agrizzi, given that his entire realisable property value came to R26.7 million, according to the court-appointed curator charged with safeguarding his estate.
The court, however, rejected limiting the order to this amount after finding that he had not fully disclosed his assets.
Agrizzi presented evidence to the court showing that the R1.66 billion was the value of contracts obtained from the DCS.
“This was a gross contract value, not a benefit received by me,” he says.
He says he is being made a scapegoat by the state despite becoming its key whistleblower at the Zondo Commission.
Plea agreement
“Since leaving Bosasa at the end of 2016, I have done my utmost to expose the corruption there, including in my evidence before the Zondo commission. In November 2025 I entered into a plea and sentence agreement [for three counts of corruption and one of money laundering].
“Its basis was my full and continuing cooperation with the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption: my sentence of imprisonment is suspended on condition that I assist the state in prosecuting others.”
He says he has honoured that agreement by preparing detailed evidence for the state and assisting in the prosecution of others.
While the Zondo commission was appreciative of Agrizzi’s evidence, the Pretoria High Court found little good to say about him.
The state argued that Agrizzi’s participation in Bosasa’s joint criminal enterprise justified attributing the company’s unlawful proceeds to him, rather than limiting his liability to money he personally received.
Agrizzi says the court erred in several ways: his wife’s income was incorrectly included as part of his, while the judgment confused a R2.7 million figure cited in his submissions with R2.7 billion.
Also overlooked was the risk of double recovery should the state succeed in prosecuting other individuals for the same amount.
Agrizzi has 15 days to apply for leave to appeal, and says he fully intends to do so.
Former ANC MP Vincent Smith received an effective seven-year prison sentence in March 2026 after entering into a plea agreement for corruption, fraud, money laundering linked to Bosasa, as well as tax offences.
Former DCS national commissioner Linda Mti and chief financial officer Patrick Gillingham are awaiting trial for fraud and corruption.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
