Johannesburg - Another former Bosasa executive has shed light on how the controversial company bought five cars for former Department of Correctional Services chief financial officer Patrick Gillingham and his family after he facilitated a contract of over R200 million for the group.
Frans Vorster, Bosasa’s former head of central business, who managed the company's dealings with the Lindela Repatriation Centre, told the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that in 2004 Gillingham got a Mercedes-Benz E270 from Bosasa after trading in his Mercedes E240, with the company paying R155000 to buy the car when it was valued between R80 000 and R90 000.
Gillingham’s former boss and Correctional Services national commissioner Linda Mti also got a silver VW Touareg V8 after Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson instructed Vorster to buy a car for the former head of security for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Vorster said that when the Special Investigating Unit started investigating the company, Watson also instructed him to go to the dealership, Lindsay Saker Krugersdorp, to collect the file with details of the deal.
”I collected the file and destroyed the file. I burnt the file,” he said, adding that he was assisted by an employee of the dealership.
Vorster said he never read the contents of the file but added: “I presume the Touareg was paid for by Bosasa.”
In 2005, Bosasa bought Gillingham’s wife a VW Golf and financed the extras demanded by the former Correctional Services commissioner responsible for Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
Vorster testified that he had to issue an order for the extras.
In April 2006, Gillingham’s son needed a vehicle and received a VW Polo from Bosasa.
Gillingham needed to upgrade his Mercedes-Benz E270 and Bosasa bought him a Mercedes E320, which Vorster ordered in his name. The company had to pay the R180000 shortfall for the luxury vehicle.
Former Bosasa chief financial officer Andries van Tonder, who concluded his testimony on Wednesday, bought another VW Polo for Gillingham’s daughter Megan while Vorster was on leave.
Vorster, a former police officer who joined Bosasa’s predecessor Dyambu Operations in 1996 and worked for the company until September 2017, also revealed the company, now known as African Global Operations, started paying bribes to Gillingham in 2003 to facilitate a lucrative contract, specifications for which were drawn up by Bosasa staff.
Vorster told the commission of inquiry that he paid bribes of between R5 000 and R20 000 to Gillingham whenever he met him on the instruction of his boss, Watson.
According to Vorster, at the time, bribes were not placed in security bags, but he was handed the cash by Watson. He would put the money in his pockets and also in A4 envelopes, in order to disguise it as documents, before delivering it to Gillingham.
The commission, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, has previously heard from former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi that the bribe money was placed in security bags before being delivered to politicians and top public servants.
Vorster said he did not meet Gillingham every month but whenever instructed by Watson, and the meetings led to Bosasa being awarded a catering tender by the Correctional Services Department in 2004. Agrizzi testified last week that the tender was valued at just under R240 million a year and was awarded in July 2004.
The specifications for the tender were drafted by former Bosasa consultant Danny Mansell using information supplied by Gillingham, according to Vorster.
He said Bosasa knew before any other potential bidder that the Department of Correctional Services was poised to outsource its catering function. Bosasa told senior departmental officials that the outsourcing would save the prison services a lot of money.
"Gillingham was used as a driver of the process so that (former prisons commissioner) Linda Mti could approve it,” Vorster said.