CAPE TOWN — If it’s all true, and the evidence points in that direction, the insider trading on the bond markets by a then little-known Gupta-linked boutique company, with prior knowledge of then Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s sacking, is pure, grotesque greed. Appointing three finance ministers in four days was among former President Zuma’s most infamous moments in the Zuptoids’ highly effective capture of the State. However, some politically-connected companies were not satisfied with just siphoning off billions in taxpayers’ money through illegal tenders or other shifty deals. This company used its inside knowledge to play the markets – and what better trigger for the sudden unpredictable movement of billions on the markets than the firing of a country’s trusted finance minister? To put the icing on the cake, they used millions of rands they were entrusted with (per kind courtesy of strategically-placed Zuptoids), that belonged to the City of Johannesburg and Transnet pensioners, to fund the illicit insider trade. When you add what amounts to cynical theft from the public purse and pensioners, to pure grotesque greed, you begin to see the monster that State Capture created. – Chris Bateman
By Thulasizwe Sithole
Pensioner funds at Transnet were used by the Gupta-linked Regiments Capital in 2015 to fund insider trading – based on the predicted firing of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, a shock international NGO forensic finding reveals.
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The trading on Nene’s now-infamous dismissal cost Transnet’s 50,000 pensioners dearly, some today claiming to be receiving pitiful payouts and/or losing promised bonuses.
The probe was conducted by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, founded in 2006, a consortium of investigative centres, media and journalists operating in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Central America.
According to e-mails and notes taken at Regiment Capital meetings, Eric Wood, one of the company’s three directors probably knew several weeks in advance that Nene would be fired on December 9th, 2015.
The evidence ties in neatly with that given at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture where an affidavit quotes Wood as telling a colleague that Nene was going to get fired, following up with a collegial email outlining how Regiments could profit from the dismissal. The company would use the pension money from Transnet, setting the fund up to make a loss corresponding to the Nene-related bond trade. Their profit came to R500m as South Africa then cycled through three finance ministers in just four days.
By the time Nene was removed, Regiments had invested money in a R186 general-purpose debenture emanating from both Transnet’s pension fund and from a fund it managed for the City of Johannesburg. Combined, the total investment was worth several billion rand. Regiments owed its control of the Transnet retirement fund to its relationship with Salim Essa, a well-known associate of the Gupta family. The Johannesburg fund went on to lose hundreds of millions of rand, and in November 2018, the city cut ties with Regiments, citing mismanagement. A representative said the city is still investigating and is “unable to confirm at this time the amount of money” at issue. Transnet also said it was reviewing various transactions executed by Regiments but declined to comment further.
