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R/£ Maharaj is not quite in the clear
August 15, 2003 Edition -1
By Edward West and Wiseman Khuzwayo
Many questions have been left unanswered by Mac Maharaj - the most deafening silence being on two R100 000 payments into a family-trust bank account.
A FirstRand inquiry yesterday cleared the former transport minister of bribery and corruption allegations in connection with the multimillion-rand N3 toll road and the new driving licences contracts.
However, Maharaj nonetheless resigned as the highest-paid non- executive director of the FirstRand group of companies.
This, said the FirstRand board in a statement, was because his continued association with the group could lead to "negative publicity".
Maharaj is to be paid R1 091 827 in lieu of notice, leave pay and a pro rata bonus.
Although the independent report - prepared by accountants Deloitte & Touche and attorneys Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala - has not been made public, the summary provided by FirstRand showed inconsistencies surrounding some of the payments made to him by Schabir Shaik.
Shaik is the owner of several businesses alleged to have benefited from a toll road and other transport-related contracts while Maharaj was transport minister.
According to the inquiry, both Maharaj and Shaik do not dispute the R328 898 paid into the bank account of Zarina Maharaj, his wife.
Maharaj stuck to his guns in talking to reporters in Johannesburg yesterday, saying Zarina had earned the money as an employment equity consultant to Shaik's business, Nkobi Holdings, for four years.
The Deloitte report said there appeared to be no formal agreement between Shaik and Mrs Maharaj, and the extent of the agreement could not be determined - "nor is it possible to express an opinion on whether Mr Shaik indeed received value for money" from her services.
Questioned about the possible conflict of interest of her working for a company that was tendering for multibillion toll-road contracts from the Department of Transport, Maharaj said there was no conflict of interest because she had a right to earn her own income, and prescribing her place of employment would be contrary to his convictions as a one-time revolutionary.
However, deafening was Maharaj's silence on two R100 000 payments into a family-trust bank account, the Milsek Trust, in 1996.
The Deloitte report noted that an Nkobi Holdings company had made one of these payments, but the investigators were unable to find the reason why these funds were deposited.
Maharaj said while he had "an idea" what the funds were for, he refused to speculate without having the hard evidence in the form of bank statements.
He said the trust account was formed when the couple returned from exile, but their hectic lifestyle had not given them enough time to build a house, and the account was dormant until it was closed at the suggestion of the bank in 2000.
Questions also remain about the R15 642 Shaik is alleged to have paid for Maharaj's accommodation in Orlando, Florida, when the Maharaj family visited Disneyland in that city in July 1996. It was part of a stopover flight to the Atlanta Olympics, which Maharaj visited in his official capacity.
The Deloitte report said the hotel bill was paid with an American Express card that was found not "to have been activated", while the Maharaj couple paid the sundries.
Brown & Root, an international engineering firm, invoiced Nkobi Holdings, and Nkobi reimbursed them. Shaik has previously claimed Nkobi was involved in a joint venture with Brown & Root.
Maharaj claimed he paid the bill with travellers cheques and that SAA had paid for his flights because he was on official business. The Orlando stopover was at no extra cost to SAA, he said.
The report said Maharaj had breached the parliamentary code of conduct by not disclosing the hotel bill in the register of members' interests. However, Maharaj said he saw no need to declare any interest, because he paid the hotel bill.
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