On Wednesday 22 February 2023, state prosecutor Adv. Peter Serunye led the testimony of the last state witness, Charles Church, who was testifying from Nigeria via Microsoft Teams on the due diligence report for Delloite. 

Church told Judge Nompumelelo Gusha that there were significant changes to a report he initially prepared for Deloitte, which was contracted by the so-called Gupta lieutenant Iqbal Sharma's Nulane investments company for R1.5 million. 

Church could, however, not say who made the changes to the report or who sent the report to the Free State Department of Agriculture, which in turn paid a whooping R24.9 million to Nulane Investments between the period of 2011 and 2012. At least two witnesses testified in court and also told Judge Gusha that there were changes to the report but also could not say who effected those changes in the report. Church was asked by Delloite to perform the necessary site inspection and technical evaluation on the Mohuma Mobung project. They all said the department was charged an exorbitant amount of money for the project.

OFM News previously reported that according to the state's former employee at Deloitte, Omri van Zyl, the controversial project lacked key elements of a successful project. Van Zyl further said the 2011 failed project, which has since led to the arrests of eight suspects, including former government officials, was selected without investment, skills, or management, among others. On the other hand, the R255 million Vrede Estina Dairy project was selected better but was not investment ready, he said.

ALSO READ: Estina adjacent project was selected poorly - state witness

He told the court about the meetings between the former Nulane Director, Denish Patel, and also a suspect in the trial, including communication shared via emails. He said he was shocked when he heard the department was invoiced R25 million for the report, for which Deloitte was paid R1.5 million.

Van Zyl explained to Judge Nompumelelo Gusha that the fee charged for the private sector is much higher than for government parastatals. Van Zyl also added that when dealing with municipalities they charge according to the Auditor-General's (AG) fee structure.

The case is based on allegations that R24.9 million was paid to Nulane Investments to conduct a feasibility study for the Free State Province’s flagship Mohoma Mobung project, on the basis that Nulane had unique skills to perform the work. The state alleged that Nulane Investments, however, had no employees on its books and in fact subcontracted Deloitte to produce the report. It’s alleged that the only change made to the Deloitte report was to identify Paras Dairy as a suitable implementing partner for the development of a milk processing plant in Vrede.

The case was postponed to Thursday 23 February 2023. Judge Gusha is set to make a judgment on whether documents admitted in court as provisional evidence should be fully accepted as such. The defence has since raised their reservations about the evidence.

Free State government officials and service providers stand accused of looting and stealing millions from the Free State Agriculture Department. It's alleged that officials – including Peter Mbana Thabethe, Seipati Dhlamini, and Limakatso Moorosi – allowed an illegal upfront payment of R12 million with no proper documents.

OFM News