DEMANDING bribes from large state-owned companies can be a tricky business, even if the intended beneficiary is the ruling party. But at least the maths can be kept nice and simple. Take a deal to supply locomotives to South Africa’s state-owned passenger-rail agency. According to papers before a Johannesburg court, a politically well-connected businesswoman allegedly told the winning bidder that, since the contract was worth billions of rand, “she could not understand why 10% of the value of the bid could not be paid to the African National Congress (ANC)”.
The allegation was made by Popo Molefe, chairman of the rail agency. More important, he is a former premier of a province and a stalwart member of the ANC, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994 (and says it never received a penny of this money). Mr Molefe made the allegations after he was told by the minister of transport, Dipuo Peters, to “close off” a corruption probe that has discovered at least 14 billion rand ($951m) in dodgy spending. Mr Molefe also says he was told by the winning bidder...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2cg1rGj
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