Paul O’Sullivan weighs on Moti, Mantengu and the R250m defamation suit: “all is not as it appears”

Ace corruption buster Paul O’Sullivan has taken a deep dive into the high-profile scrap involving JSE-listed mining group Mantengu - and reaches conclusions that are at odds with messages from the embattled company’s CEO Mike Miller. O’Sullivan explained his findings to BizNews editor Alec Hogg, including allegations that high-profile businessman Zunaid Moti is behind alleged share price manipulation..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..Watch here:.Listen here:.BizNews Reporter.When veteran forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan is called into a corporate drama, there’s usually more smoke than fire - until he starts digging. And in the curious case of Mantengu Mining’s dramatic share price manipulation claims, Zunaid Moti’s sudden name-drop, and a controversial Anton Piller raid, the smoke appears to be masking a very different kind of fire.O’Sullivan, a certified fraud examiner and head of Forensics for Justice, sat down with BizNews founder Alec Hogg to dissect what he believes is a classic case of misdirection, legal gamesmanship, and potentially fraudulent court conduct - all with a whiff of a “pump and dump” scheme looming in the background.From allegations to exonerationThe saga began when Mike Miller of the JSE-listed Mantengu Mining accused former employee Ulrich Bester, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) itself, and others - including businessman Zunaid Moti - of manipulating Mantengu’s share price to derail its acquisition of the Blue Ridge mine.Mantengu secured an Anton Piller order - an aggressive legal tool allowing for the surprise seizure of documents and digital devices - under the claim that Bester and co. were interfering with a major transaction. But O’Sullivan says the core premise was built on shaky legal ethics and deliberate omission.“When you apply for these orders,” said O’Sullivan, “you have to convince the court that you’re being honest and forthright. But Mantengu told the court they needed this to protect a mine acquisition... when they knew full well they were buying Blue Ridge for R100.”In other words, Mantengu’s rationale - that their share price drop risked triggering a ‘Category 1’ transaction requiring shareholder approval - was irrelevant. The low price tag meant no such trigger applied. By withholding this fact, O’Sullivan argues, the company may have committed fraud by non-disclosure.Enter Zunaid Moti: A convenient villain?If Mantengu was looking to grab headlines, the name Zunaid Moti was a shortcut. With a controversial past and past run-ins with the law, Moti’s mere association is often enough to raise eyebrows. But O’Sullivan is adamant: Moti had nothing to do with Mantengu or its shares - until he was dragged in.On the day the Anton Piller order was executed, Moti was having lunch with Danny McGowan, the UK-based businessman who owns Liberty Coal. Bester, now an executive at Liberty, called McGowan to say his work laptop had just been seized.Concerned about sensitive Liberty Coal data falling into the hands of another mining firm, McGowan asked Moti to facilitate a meeting with Mantengu to resolve the matter. According to O’Sullivan, that was the extent of Moti’s involvement - hardly the smoking gun Mantengu later alleged.“Zunaid Moti had never even heard of Mantengu Mining until that day,” said O’Sullivan.Yet, months later, Mantengu filed a criminal affidavit implicating Moti, McGowan, Bester, and even JSE officials in the supposed conspiracy. O’Sullivan, who was hired to investigate by one of Moti’s group companies, found no evidence of wrongdoing by any of them.“I’ve interviewed Bester myself. I looked him in the eyes. As an expert on body language and interrogation, I’m satisfied he wasn’t involved in any manipulation,” he said.Anatomy of a pump and dump?For O’Sullivan, the most troubling part isn’t the dramatic claims - it’s what they might be hiding. After analyzing metadata from Mantengu’s legal and media documents, he discovered that one of the law firms involved - Dev Maharaj Attorneys - has a family trust that owns shares in Mantengu.“So now the question is: was this about justice? Or was this a calculated strategy to inflate the share price temporarily?” asked O’Sullivan. He sees all the signs of a “pump and dump” operation, where insiders create hype to raise the stock price before selling off their shares.The pattern is familiar to him: sharp allegations, legal fireworks, media releases, and brief upward spikes in share price - followed by a return to downward trends. It’s the sort of scheme, he warns, that has been used before in South Africa and abroad.“If I were a substantial shareholder of Mantengu - which I’m not, thank God - I’d be calling for a complete overhaul of the board,” he said bluntly.A tale of two narrativesWhile Mantengu paints a picture of being a victim of financial sabotage, O’Sullivan paints a far more cynical view - of a company weaponizing the legal system to manipulate perceptions and perhaps its own market value.There is, he notes, no evidence of the alleged R250 million defamation lawsuit that Mantengu has supposedly launched. “I’ve heard that mentioned, but I have no knowledge of it,” he said, brushing it off as possibly another distraction.This case raises troubling questions about the ease with which companies can obtain Anton Piller orders and make sweeping allegations in court without immediate accountability. For O’Sullivan, it’s a matter of principle as much as it is of forensic logic.“We don't act for Moti, we act for companies in the group. And I've made it clear: if we ever find criminal activity on their side, we walk away.”For now, it’s Mantengu's credibility that appears under threat - and not the supposed conspirators it has publicly fingered.

Paul O’Sullivan weighs on Moti, Mantengu and the R250m defamation suit: “all is not as it appears”

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