Plot uncovered to frame SAA chair as 'offshore fat cat'

01 March 2015 - 00:42 By ANDRÉ JURGENS and BEAUREGARD TROMP
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Dudu Myeni SAA Chair. File photo
Dudu Myeni SAA Chair. File photo
Image: Russell Roberts

An international plot to wrest control of multibillion-rand contracts at South African Airways has been uncovered after board chairwoman Dudu Myeni was threatened with exposure as an offshore multimillionaire.

Myeni, the airline's combative chair and head of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, was drawn into a bizarre web of intrigue this week after the leak of a cache of fake documents purporting to uncover a R240-million stash in France and Austria.

Documents and stamped bank statements surfaced indicating that Interpol had made a formal application to discover à17.7-million in an account at BNP Paribas bank in Paris and à817000 in a second account at Bank Austria in Vienna.

The documents were circulated to the office of the president, the public protector and National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega. The police's Solomon Makgale said no division of the police had requested an investigation into Myeni.

The Sunday Times has found the documents, which include signed copies of bank statements, to be fraudulent.

The SAA board has appointed Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs to investigate and the firm confirmed the Sunday Times findings based on a preliminary investigation.

The firm's George van Niekerk said that Myeni did not hold any foreign bank accounts.

"The authorities are aware of the forgeries, and we are liaising with them," said Van Niekerk.

Since joining the board at the end of 2012, Myeni has fought battles on numerous fronts, including facing down accusations of dereliction of duty and altering the financing terms for 10 new aircraft.

An attempt to oust her instead saw the removal of six SAA directors and the formation of a new SAA board, formed around her.

Myeni then suspended CEO Monwabisi Kalawe, leading to a face-off between Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and the chairwoman, as Brown insisted the suspension be lifted. Zuma ended the impasse by transferring SAA to the Treasury in December last year.

The leak initially raised questions about how Myeni had amassed such wealth. According to its 2013 annual report, she earned R505 000 in fees from the parastatal as a non-executive director.

SAA spokesman Tladi Tladi said the leaked documents had the "hallmarks of an elaborate conspiracy" designed to destabilise the SAA board.

Read the  full story in the Sunday Times tomorrow

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