Another Trillian CEO testifies in state capture probe

Another former chief executive in the Trillian group has testified how‚ despite not having any employees or work experience‚ the company pitched for government business with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and billed Eskom R30-million for work it didn't do.

Bianca Goodson‚ the CEO of Trillian Management Consulting‚ a subsidiary of Trillian‚ from January to April 2016‚ testified in the Public Enterprises committee's inquiry into state capture on Friday.

She told the committee: "I was a spoke in a very big wheel. I don't know what the rest of the wheel was doing‚ but I know what the spoke was doing."

Goodson testified how‚ during her short stint at the company‚ she quickly realised that she had been sold a lie when she joined the company.

"I believe I was blatantly lied to that Trillian would be a leading‚ black owned‚ proudly South African management company. My opinion is that it was established simply to get 50% of revenues without doing much work."

Goodson said she arrived at Trillian when contracts with Eskom and Transnet were already in place. At the time‚ Trillian Management Consulting had only two employees - herself and a chief operating officer.

In her first month in the position‚ Goodson met the newly installed COGTA minister‚ Des van Rooyen.

She was asked to compile a presentation for the minister but‚ with just two employees‚ no work history and no real company profile‚ her presentation featured just six slides and was "so generic".

Yet the minister seemed to have been pleased‚ she said‚ and a few days later‚ the company started putting together a proposal to work with the department.

Goodson said the company never contracted directly with state-owned entities; instead‚ it would be the supply development partner in agreements between one of the state-owned entities and a major consulting firm. At Eskom‚ the partner was McKinsey‚ while for the COGTA proposal‚ Dubai based firm Oliver Wyman was involved.

In February 2016‚ Goodson saw an invoice from Trillian Management Consulting‚ apparently for drawing up a corporate plan for Eskom. It totalled R30.6-million and had a covering letter‚ apparently written and signed by her.

But‚ she said‚ "we were just two employees at that time. We didn't do billable work. When I saw that invoice‚ I had no idea what it was for."

Earlier on in her employment‚ she had sent a jpeg of her signature to be used to sign a lease agreement‚ but she later discovered that the signature had been used for other things‚ including the invoice.

One fateful week in March 2016 proved just too much for Goodson; she resigned at 6am on March 19‚ a Saturday morning. She had learnt that Pravin Gordhan was to be replaced as finance minister after a colleague wrote this information as a note in a notebook belonging to Trillian financial advisory CEO Mosilo Mothepu‚ who earlier this week testified in the state capture inquiry.

Goodson said she was called to a meeting in which she was instructed to open up a Bank of Baroda account for the company‚ even though she had no role in the company's financial management.

A letter had been drafted in her name stating that Marc Chipkin‚ one of the directors of Integrated Capital Management - the company tasked with setting up Trillian - would be the sole person able to transact on the account.

Goodson said she had insisted that both she and Chipkin be allowed to transact but the situation left her feeling disempowered. "I felt like they were asking me to do things that were not necessarily right."