Paul O’Sullivan on “arrogant” PP, his investigation that scalped Kenyan Finmin

When you’re in form, the results of even routine actions tend to surprise on the upside. And right now, Forensics for Justice’s founder Paul O’Sullivan is in hot form. His boxing with embattled Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is rapidly turning into a “no contest” and this week an investigation into a corrupted contract at Transnet led to the arrest of the Kenyan Finance Minister – plus a warrant of arrest being issued for the former SA country manager of Italian multinational CMC di Ravenna. The tide against corruption is turning, As O’Sullivan always said it would. He updates us and shares new light on his work in this Personal Finance Live interview. – Alec Hogg

In this interview, Paul O’Sullivan rubbishes the Public Protector’s argument against yesterday’s scathing Constitutional Court judgment – and reckons the letter she wrote threatening Parliament is “the most arrogant” he’s ever seen.

O’Sullivan reminds us that soon after arriving at the PP Busisiwe Mkhwebane instructed staff to switch the internal televisions to the Gupta ANN7 station – helping to inform his view that she is a Zuptoid who was appointed to serve the interests of former president Jacob Zuma and his associates.

He describes the Public Protector’s SARS ‘Rogue Unit’ report as “laughable… I’ve never seen such poor investigative work in my life…” and her report on the Bosasa donation “also laughable…”

His big beef is that despite full knowledge of what the State Capture entities and people like Zuma and Ntlemeza were up, the PP has never investigated a single one of them… “but instead she is going after those engaged in defeating State Capture.”

O’Sullivan says “I’m left with the conclusion that there’s an agenda. Her own conduct is making her look like a hired gun of Zuma… she’s not doing much to address this and instead is insulting the Constitutional Court and Parliament saying she’s not accountable to anyone except God.”

The Forensics for Justice investigation into a corrupt R4bn contract granted by Transnet to CMC di Ravenna has led to a warrant of arrest being issued in Nairobi for the Italian multinational’s former SA manager Paolo Porcelli. He is believed to be hiding out in Italy.

O’Sullivan’s team did further research into the Italian company, digging around in Gdansk Poland and in various African countries, found more corrupt activities and provided reports to the governments in the affected countries.

Yesterday Kenya’s Finance Minister Henry Rotich was arrested and charged with corruption for flouting procurement procedures in a $450m contract awarded to CMC di Ravenna for the construction of two dams. He appeared in court today after spending the night in jail, pleading not guilty to the charges.

O’Sullivan says Forensics for Justice would love to do even more, but has limited resources, with funding provided by himself and a few concerned citizens.

Visited 539 times, 2 visit(s) today