The Jewish community has taken a tougher stance on members suspected of participating in state capture than South Africa’s law enforcement agencies‚ according to a new report by investigative journalism team amaBhungane.
“We went after a trail left by Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa. What we found was a group of Jewish businessmen who complain of being shunned by their community because of their association with the Guptas‚” amaBhungane http://amabhungane.co.za/article/2018-07-19-the-gupta-minyan-and-the-r647-million-transnet-scam wrote.
The list includes former Transnet director Stanley Shane‚ but not former Eskom director Mark Pamensky whose name has often cropped up in reports of corruption involving the Guptas.
Following the trail of “a strange little company called Business Expansion Structured Products — Bex for short — and its role in yet another Transnet rip-off” led amaBhungane to investment manager Integrated Capital Management (ICM) and corporate services firm Legal Frontiers.
ICM was formerly chaired by Selwyn Nathan and at the time controlled by its three directors: Stanley Shane‚ Clive Angel‚ and Marc Chipkin.
“These three men have previously been linked to Essa via their alleged role in the establishment of Trillian‚ the consultancy controlled by Essa that booked massive fees from Transnet and Eskom.”
AmaBhungane concluded its report by saying that while it seemed unlikely these associates of the Guptas would ever face prosecution given “the weakness of the state and the dedication of their lawyers“‚ the businessmen named had “gathered around the protective robes of Billy Gundelfinger‚ best known as a celebrity divorce lawyer‚ but also a go-to guy for criminal defence“.
“On the other hand‚ social rejection as a punishment is as old as human society and is still used by many customary legal systems.”
– BusinessLIVE
