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- ANC MP Vincent Smith has told the Zondo commission that he has always supported an SIU investigation into Bosasa.
- Smith was testifying before the chairman of the investigation, Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo, on Friday.
- He also told the commission about a loan agreement between himself and former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi.
ANC deputy Vincent Smith told the state’s capture inquiry commission that a loan agreement for the tuition fees of one of his sons was made personally with Angelo Agrizzi and not with the Bosasa company.
Smith was a former chair of the parliamentary portfolio committee on prison services that investigated Bosasa’s involvement in alleged corruption related to state tenders.
Smith previously confirmed the loan of just over R600,000 in total, made in two separate payments in 2015 and 2016.
During the proceedings at the commission on Friday, test leader Viwe Notshe asked Smith about various Bosasa-related matters.
Smith was asked about a loan agreement between him and Agrizzi. He said it was a personal loan agreement with Agrizzi.
Smith needed the funds to cover her daughter’s college fees and approached Agrizzi because she couldn’t pay tuition right away.
His daughter attended Aberystwyth University in Wales.
“Why did you go to borrow money from a company that was reportedly involved in corruption?” He didn’t ask Smith.
Smith denied borrowing money from any company.
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“A loan contract was between Angelo Agrizzi and me and there is correspondence through sms.”
Smith said Agrizzi had asked him to help his unemployed son, adding: “I do this all the time in my constituency. He came to me and I actually did.”
He also added that he reached out to Agrizzi when his own son developed behavior problems.
“My loan was with Angelo. Nowhere in the warehouse records is there any reference to Bosasa. He had come to Angelo Agrizzi on the basis of the relationship we created. It was never a Bosasa agreement.”
He said the terms of the contract were that he would pay Agrizzi.
“It was a legitimate loan.”
Bosasa meetings
Notshe also referred him to various meeting minutes, some from 2009, in which the Bosasa problem was raised.
In 2009, the company made headlines, after an investigation by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) allegedly found that it had bribed former head of prisons Linda Mti and the CFO of the department of correctional services Patrick Gillingham to win thousands of million in department tenders.
The unit report was submitted to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) in 2009. At the Zondo commission, Smith was also asked about the minutes of the portfolio committee meeting in 2011.
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Notshe said Smith met with Bosasa officials at a hotel in Sandton, while there were negative reports about the company.
In response, Smith said that typically when a new chair is elected, stakeholders would come forward, and that was the gist of the first meeting in 2009.
He said that in 2011 Gavin Watson called him “to do exactly what they wanted to do in 2009.”
Smith said he met with other interested parties.
Notshe then asked Smith about Agrizzi’s claims that Bosasa had “problems” regarding the corruption allegations and they had to talk to Smith so that “the noise could go down.” When asked if he ever discussed the corruption charge with Watson, Smith said no.
Smith said in a committee meeting, he pledged himself as portfolio chairman, “that there is nothing we should do as members of Parliament that sabotages the work of the investigation and for me to get out of that would be to go against a decision I made in a meeting. That is why I was very clear about separating politics from my work as a deputy at that time. “
However, Notshe asked Smith why he met with Bosasa officials at the hotel. He also asked if he was “uncomfortable” with the decision to meet with officials.
Smith said he indicated to Watson that he would be uncomfortable meeting alone.
He also told the chairman of the investigation, Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo, that the committee agreed that the SIU investigation should continue.
‘Couldn’t have influenced the department’
Smith said there was nothing wrong with meeting with a stakeholder, “as long as he was not alone, and as long as no decisions were made at the meeting and while he went to report.”
He also added: “Whether Mr. Watson had me in his pocket or not is a perception, the separation of powers simply did not allow Members of Parliament to be involved in the day-to-day work of any department. He could not have influenced the department only in virtue of the separation of powers, even if it wanted to. “
He also said that he did not fear any influence or pressure on him. Notshe again told Smith that: “We have Mr. Agrizzi telling the commission that they had a problem with the SIU investigations and that as a result they were advised to see him … the time you met them in a hotel they had an investigation conducted by SIU and this has already been reported to Parliament and [the] portfolio committee chaired by you. Here you are in a hotel with a company that has been accused. “
READ ALSO | Vincent Smith helped the son of the former Bosasa boss get a job at the ANC
In response, Smith said that he had always been against outsourcing and was still against outsourcing.
“This narrative that the 2011 meeting was for the sole purpose of softening me up is not supported by the minutes.
“I have no doubt that my position and the position of the committee during my tenure was not anti-Bosasa, but it was anti-outsourcing.
“It was not an attack on a company, but an attack on the management style. There were no sacred cows. Bosasa was not a sacred cow. I do not understand, President, that if you were getting R45,000 to do a job, that is, to be soft with them, three years later I’m still as tough as I am, and they keep giving me that money. It doesn’t make sense to me, “he said.
Since 2003, the company has entered into government contracts with Airports Company SA and the prison services, home affairs and social development departments worth R10 billion over the next five to 10 years, News24 previously reported.
Smith reportedly received cash from Bosasa in 2015 and 2016 through Bosasa Agrizzi’s then COO.
Smith allegedly agreed to the installation of electric fences and a high-end CCTV system worth approximately 200,000 rand at his home, and allegedly also received 100,000 rand in cash from Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson each month.
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