Zuma: Scorpions probe broker

2005-08-26 09:03

Adriaan Basson

Johannesburg - The Scorpions may have found the last link in the trail of money that was, according to Judge Hilary Squires, paid to Jacob Zuma by French arms dealer Thales.

This link may be Jurgen Kögl, a rich Johannesburg broker and director of more than 50 registered companies.

Kögl's home and office was raided at the same time as Zuma's homes last week and documents and computer disks were confiscated.

A sworn affidavit by Johan du Plooy, the investigating officer in the Zuma case, cast more light on the Kögl raids and linked him to the Thales money allegedly received by Zuma.

The affidavit formed part of the Scorpions' application to Transvaal judge president Bernard Ngoepe to obtain warrants for the raids.

According to Du Plooy's statement, it was reasonable to believe Kögl's Cay Nominees investment company was used to cover up "revenue received from crime", given Squires' finding that Zuma received bribe money.

Squires found in the Schabir Shaik case that the state was correct in maintaining that Shaik, Zuma's former financial adviser, facilitated Thales's bribery of Zuma.

He found that Zuma agreed to receive R500 000 annually in exchange for protecting Thales (then Thomson-CSF) against an investigation into the arms deal, and to advance the company's interests in South Africa. Zuma has throughout denied being bribed.

KPMG forensic auditor Johan van der Walt, who investigated the money trail, testified in the Shaik trial that R250 000 was paid by Thales to Kobitech, an affiliate of Shaik's Nkobi Holdings. He maintained this money was a bribe.

Van der Walt testified that the money was supposed to fund Zuma's Nkandla development, for which he had absolutely no other funding.

Squires accepted this argument and rejected Shaik's defence that the R250 000 was payment according to a service provider agreement between Nkobi and Thales.

According to Du Plooy's new statement, Kögl was involved with the bribe.

According to the statement, Kögl paid R600 000 to Standard Bank for the bond on Zuma's house on the same day Shaik met Thales officials in Mauritius to put together the "so-called service agreement".

Du Plooy said it was "remarkable" that the Kögl payment and Shaik's request for money from Thales happened at a time Zuma desperately needed money to repay debt on his Johannesburg and Nkandla homes.

"The coincidence of the date is "noteworthy" and it is once again reasonable to believe that the Kögl payment had something to do with Thales," the statement read.

The Scorpions are in possession of a document dated May 17, 1999, which indicated that Kögl was the Thales representative in South Africa at the time. Du Plooy said that "meant a lot".

Kögl declined to comment on the Scorpions' allegations, saying via his attorneys that he was obtaining legal advice and was considering legal steps.

According to his attorneys at the firm Cheadle Thompson and Haysom Inc, it would be "inappropriate to comment under these circumstances".

- Beeld