The commission of inquiry into state capture has heard that four-day Finance Minister Des van Rooyen told a Gupta-linked company which proposals to pitch to a government department.
Former Trillian Management Consulting chief executive Bianca Goodson on Thursday told the commission that after his short stint at the National Treasury and redeployment to the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Ministry, Van Rooyen met representatives of Trillian and international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
According to Goodson, they met Van Rooyen, his Gupta-selected advisers, Ian Whitley and Mohamed Bobat, Trillian Capital Partners boss Eric Wood and two Oliver Wyman directors.
At the time, Van Rooyen, who is an ANC MP and Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association treasurer-general, had just been moved to the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Ministry by former president Jacob Zuma after his short-lived appointment as finance minister in December 2015.
Goodson said although she considered her presentation at the meeting to be probably her worst and would not have been surprised had she been fired for it, Van Rooyen praised her.
”Van Rooyen told the people gathered for the meeting the kind of work we could propose in the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department.
”Among Van Rooyen’s suggestions were the Back to Basics programme to improve the performance of municipalities and opportunities that would emerge as the country was getting ready for the 2016 local government elections.
”The (former) minister said he thinks there could be opportunities in these areas,” Goodson testified.
She said Bobat sent documents relating to the Back to Basics programme to help her put together the proposal for the department.
”If we had submitted a proposal to the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department, there is no indication that it would not have been met favourably,” said Goodson.
She said Trillian never received work from the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department.
Goodson continues giving evidence on Thursday afternoon.
Political Bureau