Agrizzi and Smith corruption trials draw near

The Zondo Commission’s damning disclosures of state capture by the now liquidated facilities management company Bosasa are finally headed to court.

The trial of former Bosasa chief operations officer turned whistleblower Angelo Agrizzi has been moved from the magistrates court to the Gauteng High Court, and is due to be heard in October.

Read: I was groomed for corruption – Agrizzi

Due to failing health, Agrizzi will testify remotely. Some of his health problems stem from an apparent attempt on his life in 2019 while in Joburg’s ‘Sin City’ prison before being removed under armed guard, first to Baragwanath hospital, when he claims an attempt was made to poison him, and then to Fourways Life hospital. Doctors gave him a 30% chance of survival.

This is detailed in his book Surviving the Beast – The Ugly Truths About State Capture And Why They Tried To Kill Me (Truth Be Told Publishers, September 2021).

Also up for trial is former ANC MP Vincent Smith, one-time chair of the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services, who is accused of receiving about R800 000, paid by Bosasa into his company Euro Blitz 48 in 2015 and 2016.

Agrizzi claimed Bosasa also covered the costs of upgrades to Smith’s house. Smith has maintained that the money was not a bribe, but a loan for his daughter’s education.

More than R7m in bribes

There were several other high profile players implicated in the Zondo reports. The commission found that Bosasa had paid R75.7 million in bribes between 2000 and 2106 to secure contracts worth more than R2 billion.

Bosasa was placed in provisional liquidation in 2019.

Listen/read:
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The state’s combined indictment against Agrizzi and Smith shows an amount of R395 076 was paid into Smith’s company, Euro Blitz 48, in August 2016 as a “car accident settlement”.

This was apparently the wording suggested by then Bosasa CEO, the late Gavin Watson, to obscure the real purpose of the funds – which was to ensure the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) contracts kept on coming.

Between 2004 and 2006, Bosasa was awarded four contracts by the DCS worth more than R1 billion.

In 2006, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) started investigating corruption at Bosasa, and issued a report in 2009 implicating Agrizzi, employees of Bosasa, former national commissioner of the DCS Linda Mti, and the department’s then chief financial officer Patrick Gillingham.

Smith ‘horrified’

With Smith helming the responsible portfolio committee, the state’s indictment shows he initially expressed his concern over the SIU’s findings, describing them as “horrific”, and was opposed to outsourcing of nutrition that had benefitted Bosasa so handsomely.

By March 2013, however, Smith underwent a change of heart and started supporting outsourcing.

“Despite warning on 24 April 2103 that there will be no extension of the Bosasa contracts which [were] extended to the end of July 2013, the [Bosasa] contract nevertheless continued,” reads the indictment.

The DCS continued to award contracts to Bosasa each year until February 2019 when the company applied for voluntary liquidation.

In August that year, Bosasa founder and former rugby legend Gavin Watson died in a car accident when the Toyota Corolla he was driving smashed into a pillar at the entrance to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

Read: Former Bosasa CEO linked to corruption allegations killed in car crash

Agrizzi claims monthly bribes were paid to Smith, with the cash hand-over often occurring at the Mugg & Bean in Clearwater Mall in Roodepoort.

Agrizzi’s testimony 

Agrizzi provided extensive evidence of corruption and money laundering to the Zondo Commission. His testimony was crucial in uncovering the decades-long practice of bribing officials to win tenders.

What gave it extra heft was that Agrizzi was often the one doing preparing the bundles of cash being counted and despatched to key political and even trade union figures.

The commission concluded that Bosasa “bribed politicians, government officials, [former president] Jacob Zuma and others extensively”.

“Bosasa and its directors and other officials simply had no shame in engaging in acts of corruption,” it said.

Read: Nomvula Mokonyane, Bosasa, and all those repairs

The commission’s report found the primary mechanism for gaining influence over public officials was cash bribes, building houses, providing furnishings, installing home security systems, buying motor vehicles and luxury gifts, and paying for travel and accommodation.

In March this year, Bosasa liquidators Cloete and Thomas Murray were shot dead on the N1 highway near Joburg in a suspected assassination. It is widely suspected that they were targeted for their investigations into Bosasa.

The state has prepared a list of 19 witnesses to testify against Smith and Agrizzi on charges including corruption, money laundering and fraud.

The Zondo Commission heard weeks of testimony from Agrizzi and other former employees who later turned whistleblowers, such as former chief financial officer Andries van Tonder, detailing the depth of corruption at Bosasa under the guidance and direction of Watson.

Read: Bosasa’s ‘Godfather’ Gavin Watson used prayer meetings to test staff loyalty

The bribery was poorly documented because most of the agreements were verbal, very little was written down, and payments were made mostly in cash.

Read Part III of the State Capture Report here.

Agrizzi testified that he turned down a R50 million “keep silent” bribe, allegedly made by members of the Watson family and others.

He maintains that he never did the bribing himself, but oversaw record keeping of the cash going out of the business to politically important people.

Watson openly boasted of his political connections to former president Jacob Zuma and others.

Read:
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