Poor taste, says Koos of graft allegations
Multimedia giant in state capture claims over payments to SABC and ANN7
Koos Bekker, Naspers chairman, has dismissed accusations of corruption against Africa's biggest media company as nothing more than mischief in a dramatic week of growing alarm over the extent of state capture in the country. The billionaire owner of print, e-commerce and pay-TV assets faces a slew of inquiries over accusations that it paid the SABC R500-million and the then Gupta-owned TV station, ANN7, millions of rands to secure influence over the government's encryption policy for set-top boxes. Bekker says MultiChoice could not have known, when it signed with ANN7 in 2012, that the Gupta family would subsequently be exposed as close associates of President Jacob Zuma and accused of corruption. The company's dealings with the SABC were above board, he says. FBI investigation As long as a year after the deal to air the ANN7 channel was signed, "respectable business leaders" attended the high-profile Gupta wedding, "so to say that MultiChoice should have foreseen [what was to come]...
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