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Johannesburg – The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) laid criminal charges against BnP Capital director, Daniel Mahlangu, on Thursday at OR Tambo International Airport.
This is part of Outa’s ongoing investigation in the irregularities of South African Airways (SAA), the civil society group said in a statement.
This follows reports earlier this year where Outa exposed an unlawful deal between the airline and the boutique financier. SAA agreed to pay BnP R256m to restructure its debt of R14.6bn. According to Outa, these services could have been sourced at one fifth of the cost, for anything between R42m and R85m.
The deal was terminated on July 21 amid increasing scrutiny.
READ: SAA terminates services of BnP Capital
“Laying criminal charges should send a clear message that companies who make themselves party to dubious transactions, can also be held accountable for being an instrument in the decay of government’s financial systems and the looting of taxpayers hard earned money, ” said Ivan Herselman, director of legal affairs at Outa.
The charges laid against Mahlangu are on various grounds.
These include BnP Capital's failure to disclose information to SAA. This being that the company’s financial services board (FSB) licence had been suspended. The company also had contact with a direct competitor prior to its bid which it failed to disclose.
READ: Outa unveils shocking facts about SAA contractor
Outa alleged that the company fraudulently misrepresented itself. This is with regard to the parties it indicated would be part of the project team, some of which had never heard of BnP Capital and who did not have aviation experience.
Outa also laid a charge against Mahlangu for “attempting to persuade” SAA to pay a cancellation fee of R49.9m due to costs incurred.
ALSO READ: SAA’s Myeni wants R50m cancellation fee for BnP – report
Outa believes that Mahlangu did not act alone. “We know Mr Mahlangu was not the mastermind behind this shady deal, and hope that he will use this window of opportunity to reveal the truth about the true beneficiaries and the people behind this seemingly corrupt deal,” stated Herselman.
Outa added that those within SAA who assisted in putting the deal together are not “off the hook”. Previously, chairperson of Outa, Wayne Duvenage told Fin24 that the medium to long term plan would be to carry out litigation against various members of the SAA board.
“Legal action against them will commence in due time. Our investigation into this is still continuing, but we already have solid evidence,” stated Outa.
SAA did not yet respond to a request for comment.
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