The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa the third instalment of its report that details high-level corruption during the tenure of former president Jacob Zuma, APA confirmed on Wednesday.
The report focuses exclusively on Bosasa, a group of companies believed to have been used as a front by senior officials to get kickbacks in exchange for awarding lucrative government contracts.
“The evidence heard by the commission revealed that the Bosasa group of companies, its chief executive officer Gavin Watson, its chief operations officer Angelo Agrissi and its directors, including Joe Gumede and others, ran the entire Bosasa business operations on the basis of widespread corruption, bribery and fraud,” the report said.
Apart from implicating former president Jacob Zuma, Agrizzi testified that Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and former water and sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane were also involved in Bosasa’s underhand activities, the report added.
Zuma has, however, denied the allegations, saying that they were not worth the paper they were written on.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Jacob Zuma Foundation said the former president rejected the findings, asserting that he was not afforded an opportunity to be heard.
“The application for the review and setting aside of the refusal by Judge Zondo to recuse himself is a matter which is still pending before the courts,” the foundation said.
As a result, Zuma “rejects any purported ‘findings’ by Judge Zondo, which were made without affording him the most basic human rights to be heard,” it added.
Zondo has recommended that Zuma be investigated for breach of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act when he was in office.
The Zondo commission was last week granted a two-month extension to finalise its work and submit its consolidated report to Ramaphosa. It is now expected to submit the final report on April. The previous deadline was February 28.
NM/jn/APA