#StateCaptureInquiry: Bloem backs up Mentor's testimony

Published Feb 14, 2019

Share

Johannesburg - Former ANC MP Dennis Bloem has corroborated certain aspects of Vytjie Mentor's testimony at the Zondo commission. 

Bloem appeared at the inquiry on Tuesday and faced questions regarding Mentor's testimony. 

Bloem said he was part of the joint intelligence committee of Parliament in 2010 when he was approached by Mentor who told him that she had been invited to meet with one of the Gupta brothers at the family compound in Saxonwold. 

He said he could not remember every aspect of what Mentor told him.  

Bloem recalled that Mentor said she met with one of the Guptas brothers but did not say which one. She told him that the brother offered her a ministerial post to be the minister of public enterprises. 

Bloem said Mentor was angry and told him that she rejected the offer and the Gupta brother appeared visibly angry after the rejection. 

She told the man she wants to leave and while she was outside she saw former president Jacob Zuma who tried to calm her down, Bloem recalled. 

  

Mentor was then driven to the airport. 

Bloem's testimony differs slightly with Mentor's. Firstly Mentor had said she was invited to the meeting at Saxonwold by Zuma's former chief of staff Laleka Kaunda and Bloem could not recall this aspect. 

She also said she met Zuma inside the Gupta house and not outside. Bloem also did not mention the name of the Gupta brother, yet Mentor had told the inquiry that it was Ajay Gupta who offered her the job. 

Bloem said he was not influenced by Mentor's evidence and spoke only what he could remember from that 2010 meeting. 

He said he did not tell anyone about Mentor's confidential information as he had made a promise to her. 

"That's why I am sticking to what I have said in November 2018 when I did the statement so nothing has influenced my stand on this issue," said Bloem. 

Bloem opened a fraud case against the Guptas in 2016, this was after Mentor and former deputy minister of finance Mcebisi Jonas revealed that they had been ministerial posts by the Guptas. 

He said he did not mention what Mentor told him when he laid the criminal complaint because he would not have evidence to back up his claims.

IOL

Related Topics:

ANC