Outa now takes aim at Denel chairperson

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) this week laid charges of corruption at the Brooklyn police station against State-owned Denel chairperson Dan Mantsha over his alleged involvement in State capture.

Outa COO Ben Theron on Friday said the organisation believed Mantsha, who was appointed as chairperson and nonexecutive director in 2015, attempted to tie Denel to a joint venture agreement with Gupta-linked VR Laser in Asia.

The defence industrial group abandoned the Denel Asia joint venture (JV) company deal in August after the National Treasury refused to approve the deal. The JV had also become the focus of negative attention from the media, causing reputational damage to Denel.

“Mantsha’s role was to try to sell this JV to the National Treasury and Ministry of Public Enterprises. They claimed the JV had the potential to do business in Asia to the value of $9.2-billion over five years,” said Theron.

In the affidavit submitted on Wednesday, Outa claimed that VR Laser would put up R100-million in operating expenses for five years, as a loan to the JV, while Denel would “make available” to the JV “all products manufactured by Denel in South Africa, for manufacturing and sale, and shall transfer all information in regards to these products to the company”.

“The deal blocked Denel from doing any deals by itself [in Asia-Pacific], giving the JV priority. That meant that for R100-million, the Guptas would get access to all Denel products, be in charge of deciding what business to do and be in line for half the profits on $9.2-billion,” Theron noted, adding that the transaction was heavily skewed in favour of VR Laser.