Johannesburg - Controversial former SA Airways chairperson Dudu Myeni was the only board member who agreed to pay about R50 million cancellation fee to a company that had been irregularly appointed by the national carrier.
The airline’s former treasurer Cynthia Stimpel told the commission of inquiry into state capture on Friday that Myeni was the lone non-executive director who supported that payment of a R49.9m cancellation fee to BnP Capital after the termination of its mandate as transaction adviser.
BnP Capital was appointed despite Stimpel’s concerns that there was no need for a transaction adviser and when there was no budget for such a service.
"The only member of the board who supported the recommendation was Dudu Myeni,” Stimpel said.
Stimpel has previously told the commission chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that she believed the sourcing of funds could be secured without the assistance of a transaction adviser.
BnP Capital’s mandate was changed from transaction adviser to sourcing of R15 billion in funds as part of SAA’s capital raising initiative.
For the sourcing of funds, BnP Capital was charging SAA 3% of the R15bn, which Stimpel said was about R300m.
In July 2016, Stimpel was suspended for her opposition to another lucrative deal awarded to BnP Capital, which the company would have been paid R225m excluding VAT.