McKinsey feels heat on Trillian deal

Anti-graft group Corruption Watch plans to use a sensational statement by the former CEO of a Gupta-linked company in its effort to have corruption charges brought by US authorities against multinational management consultancy McKinsey.

Former Trillian CEO Bianca Goodson has made explosive allegations about events surrounding the partnership between McKinsey, Trillian and state-owned power utility Eskom, and others.

Goodson went public about her time at Trillian late on Wednesday. She had prepared the statement for a parliamentary inquiry into state capture which she now says she believes is unlikely to happen soon.

Goodson was CEO at Trillian for three months in 2016 but left, she says, when she felt she was becoming exposed to politically linked dealmaking which could destroy her career.

Her statement details her time at Trillian - until recently majority-owned by Gupta ally Salim Essa.

Her revelations turn up the heat on McKinsey, which is in the spotlight for allegedly partnering Trillian in winning contracts with South African state-owned entities.

Trillian allegedly received substantial payments for doing nothing.

Trillian on Thursday denied Goodson's allegations and attacked her motives.

McKinsey suspended McKinsey South Africa director Vikas Sagar in July after revelations that he had arranged allegedly irregular payments for Trillian in a R1.6-billion deal with Eskom which is now being probed by South African authorities.

Trillian separately received R495-million for work it did not complete at Eskom.

Corruption Watch's David Lewis said his organisation knew Goodson's information would emerge and would use it in motivating its case with the US authorities.

He said the information clearly demonstrated that the relationship between McKinsey, Eskom and Trillian was irregular.

"While Trillian was presented as a subcontractor, Trillian was clearly, in the information seen, not . expected to do any work," said Lewis.

McKinsey spokesman DJ Carella said on Thursday: "We have nothing to add beyond what we have said before on this topic - you have our previous statements, which you should feel free to use."

McKinsey has previously denied impropriety in its dealings with Trillian and Eskom.

But an annexure to Goodson's statement is titled The Current Status of The Trillian-McKinsey Supplier Development Partnership Eskom Turnaround Programme. In the document she says McKinsey executives seemed to view Trillian as a useful annoyance to which it would pay "30%".

Said Lewis: "It adds a lot to the evidence that this 'deal' was nothing more than fronting. The idea that Trillian was paid separately from McKinsey was, frankly, to get around the adverse findings from McKinsey's own due-diligence report."

Lewis said Corruption Watch was convinced that anti-corruption laws had been broken in both the US and South Africa. "We are also considering submitting evidence of criminal offences to UK and European authorities. The case we are pursuing with the US authorities is under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."

Trillian on Thursday said that numerous claims in Goodson's statement were incorrect and that she had cited documents and e-mails out of context.

It was adamant that all invoices submitted to Eskom were for authorised work satisfactorily completed.

"Goodson left under a cloud as she wanted to participate in a greater share of the profit from Trillian's activity than were originally allocated to her," the company said.

"It is incorrect to state that Trillian was used simply to channel funds from SOEs through multinationals and their contracts as their supplier development partner."

Trillian's internal investigation by advocate Geoff Budlender produced a bombshell report in June. It said there appeared to be substance to many of the allegations against Trillian.