Trillian Capital Partners chairman Tokyo Sexwale is expected to drop a bombshell on Thursday when he announces the outcome of an investigation into the Gupta-linked company writes Graeme Hosken.
Sexwale and Advocate Geoff Budlender are to brief the media in Johannesburg on the findings of an independent investigation.
Trillian Capital Partners is part of the larger Trillian Group‚ whose majority is held by Trillian Holdings‚ of which Gupta associate Salim Essa is the sole director.
The company has been under intense scrutiny for its alleged role in state capture‚ something it vehemently denies.
Trillian came under the spotlight after a company whistleblower alerted former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela that the company’s chief executive‚ Eric Wood‚ had briefed senior staff on the replacement of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene with Des van Rooyen.
The briefing allegedly took place in October 2015. Nene was replaced in December 2015.
Nene’s replacement‚ dubbed Nenegate‚ threw the markets into a freefall‚ with losses estimated at R400-billion.
The allegations that Wood had known of Nene’s replacement saw Sexwale launch an investigation.
Madonsela in her report on state capture also announced that Trillian was one of several which had allegedly made payments towards the purchase of a coal mine bought by the Guptas‚ something the company has denied.
Budlender claimed earlier this year that their investigation had been hindered by the company for months because they had refused to hand over Wood’s laptop computer‚ cellphone and other electronic devices.
The company claimed in the media reports that this was because they had changed lawyers‚ and were waiting for new ones to be appointed.
In May at a media briefing‚ Sexwale‚ who expressed fears at the time that the investigation would disappear‚ said it was snowballing and was “part of something much bigger“.
