Mbhazima Shilowa. Picture: (Gallo Images/Foto24/Cornel van Heerden)
In a sarcastic tweet aimed at the critics of the media in the wake of the #GuptaLeaks emails, former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa pointed out that the latest revelations have shown that the debate around state capture have not been limited to only black politicians and companies and the Guptas.
Shilowa linked his tweet to an investigative report on how global consulting giant McKinsey was hired by Eskom in 2015 at an estimated cost of R1 billion a year.
The report in question exposes how the company allegedly struck a deal with Trillian Capital Partners, handing “at least R266 million of Eskom’s money to a company that, in the words of McKinsey’s own executives, was merely there to receive 30% of the contract ‘in return for not much work'”.
On Thursday, advocate Geoff Budlender released his report into allegations of state capture carried out by Trillian, a company majority owned by Gupta associate Salim Essa.
Budlender found that McKinsey had agreed to subcontract 30% of its Eskom work to Trillian under the guise of “supplier development”, a programme intended to upskill small, black-owned business.
AmaBhungane found that, instead, documents from Budlender’s report as well as in the #GuptaLeaks “show that Trillian planned to siphon huge chunks of the money it received to a company part-owned by the Guptas and another company in Dubai”.
Former ANC minister Tokyo Sexwale resigned from Trillian in disgust as a result.
Another “white” company that also made the news this week as part of the Gupta leaks was auditing firm KPMG, which was implicated in the alleged laundering of money from the Free State government that was then allegedly used to pay for the Guptas’ lavish Sun City wedding.