Johannesburg - Private investigator Paul O’Sullivan this week tried to get the chairwoman of South African Airways to resign from her position using fake documents.
The Sunday Independent is in possession of fake overseas bank statements and e-mail communication between Dudu Myeni, her lawyers and O’Sullivan, which show the famed investigator demanding her resignation based on fake overseas bank documents.
O’Sullivan, who is credited with several corruption-busting investigations – including the conviction of the late former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi – accused Myeni of having received millions of rand from illegal deals involving an SAA tender and the Gauteng e-tolls contract.
He furnished Myeni with documents showing she had two overseas bank accounts which collectively had more than R250 million, presumably received from her irregular involvement in the deals.
In the e-mails, which start with O’Sullivan bemoaning the fact that Myeni had not replied to his initial e-mails, he appears to threaten her with his investigative background, saying his informer is a reliable source, and demands her resignation before the end of the day.
The drama unfolded on Wednesday. “Its important that you should now know the true meaning of being on my radar… and I did, in all fairness, request you to resign from SAA or face further scrutiny.
“I am now writing to ask about your overseas bank accounts, which I have been given by an informer who is normally bang on the mark,” wrote O’Sullivan.
He further claimed her failure to reply could only indicate “there may be more than just smoke coming from the fire”.
“If the above are your accounts, can you please explain how one person can benefit by such obscene amounts, by what are clearly public funds expenditure? I now fully understand the unbelievably corrupt desire to have e-tolls, when a simple fuel tax would have sufficed,” wrote O’Sullivan.
He said the money in those accounts explained why Myeni had gone on a “witch-hunt” by suspending SAA chief executive Monwabisi Kalawe for “appointing independent observers to the wide-bodied aircraft tender”.
The documents attached to the e-mails showed what appeared to be bank statements from Bank Austria and BNP Parabis in France.
O’Sullivan demanded an explanation, but stated clearly he believed the documents were genuine. He also warned Myeni not to even think about moving the money from the accounts. “In case you are thinking of jumping on an airplane and shifting the cash, I should point out that I am in Europe and will be lodging formal complaints with the police in both Vienna and Paris.
“I believe you could face the justice system wherever you go. Moving the cash now would not be in your best interests. “Needless to say, your resignation before sunset would be a good thing to do,” wrote O’Sullivan, signing off the e-mail with the now famous #paybackthemoney hashtag.
But the investigator is seen making a huge turnabout. The e-mails later show him apologising and offering Myeni at least R50 000 to let the matter go after he discovered the documents he was relying on were not authentic.
In the e-mails, he admits to having distributed the documents to a selected number of journalists.
“In order to avoid protracted litigation, and in recognition of the embarrassing situation I have facilitated by my own shortcomings, I would be prepared to… make a without prejudice an offer of R50 000, in recognition of the stress I have caused Ms Myeni, by my problematic communications,” said O’Sullivan. He also offered to pay the costs for the SAA lawyers, ENS.
O’Sullivan said yesterday: “What I’m prepared to say is that I have made a full apology and I’m co-operating fully with the investigation.
“The documents were fake and I fell for it, which is why I retracted the allegations and claims that I made.”
ENS’ George van Niekerk, speaking on behalf of SAA and Myeni, said: “There’ll be consequences because he caused enormous harm to her. We are still investigating but so far we have managed to confirm with the banks concerned that all these documents were forgeries, which he used to demand her resignation,” said Van Niekerk.
Sunday Independent