A Gupta-linked advisory group, Trillian, is sucking cash out of Transnet at a furious rate despite a National Treasury probe into contracts between the companies. AmaBhungane has obtained copies of Trillian invoices totalling R74-million signed off for payment by Transnet chief financial officer Garry Pita at the end of June.This came on top of R93-million paid out late last year without a competitive bid, bringing the total to R167-million.The payments underscore how big the stakes are in the battle over state-owned enterprises raging between Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Jacob Zuma.Trillian Capital Partners, the apex operational company in the Trillian group, is 60% held by Trillian Holdings, whose sole director is close Gupta associate Salim Essa.story_article_left1AmaBhungane has been trying for months to access Trillian Holdings' share register - a legal right under the Companies Act - and has had a summons served at Essa's home and business addresses to force him to comply with the law.Essa's shared interests with the Gupta family include VR Laser, a steel-cutting business that has formed a joint venture with state arms company Denel to market weapons across Asia.The Trillian group, established late last year, offers financial advisory, consulting and related services.In May, the Sunday Times reported that the National Treasury was investigating contracts between Transnet and Trillian, as well as another advisory firm, Regiments Capital.The Transnet transactions are also believed to form part of the public protector's investigation into allegations of "state capture" focusing on the influence of the Gupta family.The Trillian invoices approved by Pita are remarkably skimpy on details of the services provided and do not indicate time or personnel allocated. They show that Trillian invoiced:Some R8-million monthly for undefined professional services in relation to the "GFB Breakthrough" project. GFB stands for "general freight business", the bedrock of Transnet's hopes that massive capital investment would deliver increased volumes;R36-million for undefined "work done to close the SWAT II project". It is not clear what this is;R11.4-million for "financial structuring advisory services on the fund-raising required to facilitate African and global sales of rolling stock"; andR2.7-million for undefined work done on the "TRXGCIA-DCT affordability model". It is not clear what this is.story_article_right2Transnet declined to give details of Trillian's work this week, saying: "Transnet has in excess of 23,000 suppliers with whom we have transacted over the past 24 months, and it is not our policy to divulge the details of our commercial terms with these partners without a just cause."It has also been established that Transnet paid another Trillian group company, Trillian Asset Management, R93.5-million in December last year.This was purportedly for acting as the "lead arranger" for a R12-billion "club loan" the previous month by a syndicate of five banks to help fund the purchase of 1064 locomotives.Analysts said Trillian Asset Management, then freshly rolled into the Trillian group, was at the time a small "boutique" asset manager without the capacity to perform such work.Transnet declined to say if either set of Trillian payments had resulted from competitive bids, saying only that "the contracts ... were awarded in accordance with our policies and procedures and approved by the applicable delegated authority as dictated by our governance requirements".It denied irregularity, saying that "all service providers are paid for services rendered once we have satisfied ourselves that they have fulfilled their obligations in terms of agreed contractual scope. The matters you refer to were no exception."Trillian said through a PR agency that it was "confident that all due processes were followed and that we delivered high-quality work and value to the client".Both Transnet and Trillian said they were not aware of any National Treasury investigation into their contracts. The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, an independent non-profit, produced this story. Like it? Be an amaB supporter, sign up for its newsletter or visit amaBhungane.co.za...