Publication: Business Day Issued: Date: 2007-03-26 Reporter: Wyndham Hartley

DA Wants Truth on ‘Maharaj Millions’

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date 2007-03-26

Reporter

 Wyndham Hartley

Web Link

www.businessday.co.za

 

Cape Town ­ The Democratic Alliance (DA) has vowed to grill Transport Minister Jeff Radebe during his budget vote debate on allegations that his predecessor, Mac Maharaj, and his wife made millions out of contracts awarded to convicted fraud Schabir Shaik.

This follows weekend reports that a Scorpions probe of Maharaj and his wife, Zarina, was centred on millions of rands in foreign accounts. City Press and Rapport said a four-month probe traced questionable payments by Shaik, among others. It was said Maharaj received the payments while a minister and the contracts for a credit-card driving licence and the upgrade of the N3 were being awarded. Shaik benefited from both contracts.

DA transport spokesman Stuart Farrow said: “If the allegations are correct, then only Mr Maharaj and Mr Shaik benefited from the deal. The credit-card driving licence, however, contains a fingerprint imprint … too small to be registered on bar-code machines; the card also does not show the first name of the driver but rather just the first initial.

“I will raise these issues with the transport minister in the National Assembly on Tuesday during the transport department’s budget vote debate,” Farrow said.

The papers reported that Zarina Maharaj opened a bank account between 1996 and 2000 and only two deposits were made into it, both from one of Shaik’s offshore companies.

“Documents in City Press’s possession show that Shaik’s Swiss account had two credit transfers made for Ff1,2m from Banque Paribas Paris. It is believed investigators want to establish who Shaik’s funders in Paris are. It is well known that Paris is the head office of French arms firm Thint. It is accused with Shaik of paying bribes to former deputy president Jacob Zuma. It is common cause that Thint had a 33,3% share in the R650m drivers’ licence tender. Payments to the Maharajs were in 1996 and 1997. A decision on the credit-card licence was announced in 1998 and the N3 tender process was finalised in June 1998,” the papers reported.

Attempts to reach the National Prosecuting Authority and Maharaj for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.


The torture never stops.

For Mac 15 years in The Pen; for Schabir another 15 in the Pen (making it 30 in all); for Thomson-CSF, they just keep smiling and pulling in the bucks from their range of South African business interests.