Johannesburg - Former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi has revealed shocking details of how the controversial company used the deaths of its employees and their relatives to generate money to pay for bribes and corruption.
Testifying on Friday morning, Agrizzi told the commission of inquiry into state capture, that the scheme was very sad.
It involved Bosasa taking out insurance through the Metropolitan Death Benefit Fund to try and assist bereaved families of its employees.
In its books, Bosasa would make the payment while the family was waiting for the death certificate and then claim it made a double contribution.
In fact, once the fund had paid Bosasa, the money raised was used to pay bribes and for corruption.
Agrizzi said the estimated monthly amount generated was R300 000 through deaths of employees and their family members.
"Employees didn't know about the death benefits scheme," he said.
Agrizzi also told the commission headed by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that Bosasa paid for the servicing of cars for specific persons including Airports Company South Africa security boss Reuben Pillay after the controversial company was awarded a tender to guard the multi-storey carpark at the OR Tambo International Airport.
He said Bosasa had several methods of obtaining and concealing cash such as generating fake invoices to companies in liquidation or nearing liquidation.
According to Agrizzi, Bosasa would also regenerate invoices paid to start-up companies with no value-added tax obligations yet.
Bosasa also used a company owned by its former employees Kgwetlo Events to avert queries from auditors and the SA Revenue Service.
"Mr and Mrs Gwebu (owners of Kgwetlo Events) didn't know that their company was being used to generate Bosasa invoices," he said.