>>16693999

>>>16664951 Makena Capital Management Bun

“Partners Capital [Lord Jacob Rothschild and Sir Ronald Cohen] Adds to its Board of Directors with the Appointment of Four Global Investment Executives” – Former Co-founder and CEO of Makena, David Burke is one of them

https://partners-cap.com/press/partners-capital-adds-to-its-board-of-directors-with-the-appointment-of-four-global-investment-executives/

14 July 2021

Top executives from institutional and private investment firms including Apollo, Makena, Rothschild Foundation and Höegh Capital Partners join distinguished Board of global OCIO

Partners Capital, a leading global Outsourced Investment Office, today announced the appointments of Sanjiv Misra, David Burke and Brad Fried to its Board of Directors. Martine Holter has been named as a Board Adviser.

These additions to the Partners Capital Board represent the most significant changes to its membership since 2005 when Lord [Jacob] Rothschild and Sir Ronald Cohen made their strategic investments in the business.

While the working partners continue to retain majority ownership and control of the firm, the strengthening of the Board with the addition of the external directors reflects an important milestone in the business.

The profiles of the new members are set out below:

• Sanjiv Misra is an Independent Advisor and Chairman of the Asia Pacific Advisory Board for Apollo Management, the global private equity and alternative asset management firm. He also holds several additional board seats and is President of Phoenix Advisors Pte Ltd, a boutique advisory and principal investing firm. Sanjiv spent his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, most recently as Head of Citigroup’s Asia Pacific Corporate Bank till 2008. Sanjiv’s appointment brings valuable experience and insight on Asian markets as Partners Capital look to deepen its investments business in the region.

• David Burke brings a different perspective on the Outsourced CIO business which he pioneered as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Makena Capital, based in San Francisco. David also brings extensive private equity and venture capital leadership experience. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of Selby Lane, a specialty finance company that provides capital and expertise to top investment and asset management firms.

• Brad Fried is the current Chair of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and the Co-Founder of private investment firm Grovepoint Capital. Brad is the former Chief Executive Officer of Investec Bank and current Chair of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe. Brad will bring important macroeconomic insights to the Board and will provide an eye to good governance across the organisation.

• Martine Holter is the Chief Executive Officer of Höegh Capital Partners (HCP), a family investment office co-located in London and Oslo which oversees the investment interests of the Höegh family. Martine is also a board member of several Höegh-controlled direct investments, private and public. Prior to HCP, she was Chief Operating Officer of venture capital firm Arts Alliance Advisors, a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in London and an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong.

Other members of the Partners Capital Board of Directors include independent directors Rosalind Hewsenian (CIO, Helmsley Charitable Trust), Rich DeMartini (Vice Chairman, Crestview) and Board Adviser Jeremy Sillem (Managing Partner, Spencer House Partners). Also on the Board are members of the firm’s senior leadership – Stan Miranda, Arjun Raghavan, Paul Dimitruk, John Collis and William Fox. The firm’s global Chief Operating Officer, Toby Seth, will carry on as a Board Advisor.

>>16567352

>>16696610

>Brad Fried is the current Chair of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and the Co-Founder of private investment firm Grovepoint Capital. Brad is the former Chief Executive Officer of Investec Bank and current Chair of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

Sir Bradley Fried – Partners Capital

https://partners-cap.com/team/brad-fried/

Brad was raised in South Africa and trained with Arthur Andersen before moving to the US. After graduating with an MBA from Wharton, he joined McKinsey in New York where he was a partner in the firm’s Financial Institutions Group.

In 1999 Brad moved to London to run Investec Bank in the UK. In 2009 he co-founded the private investment firm, Grovepoint. In 2012 Brad was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, becoming chairman of the Bank in 2018.

Brad is a Governor of the London Business School; a Fellow of Cambridge University’s Magdalene College; and was previously the CEO-in-Residence and a Fellow in Finance at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School.

Brad is also Chairman of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

>>16696619

>In 2009 he co-founded the private investment firm, Grovepoint. In 2012 Brad was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, becoming chairman of the Bank in 2018.

“Bank of England’s Fried to Head Billionaire Kirsh Family Office [Another South African Family]”

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news-fast-news/bank-of-englands-fried-to-head-billionaire-kirsh-family-office/

October 14, 2015

Fried starts in November and takes over from Ron Sandler, the former CEO of Lloyd’s of London.

Bradley Fried, a member of the Bank of England’s Court of Directors and former chief executive officer of Investec Plc, is joining South African billionaire Nathan “Natie’’ Kirsh’s family office as its new CEO.

Fried will oversee Kirsh Group, the management company that holds Kirsh’s disparate assets, which include two US wholesale grocery businesses, commercial and residential real estate, and private equity investments on four continents. Kirsh’s fortune is valued at $6.2 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

“I’ve met many chief executives, many who were outstanding at strategy, outstanding at execution,” said Fried in a telephone interview. “In Natie, I’ve found an extraordinary visionary. At the age of 50 I almost feel as if I’m being apprenticed all over again.”

Fried starts in November and takes over from Ron Sandler, the former CEO of Lloyd’s of London, who Kirsh said will remain working as a trustee and adviser to the family.

Early Ventures

A Cape Town native, Fried worked for McKinsey & Co in New York before moving to London in 1999 to work for UK-listed Investec. He resigned as CEO from the bank in 2010 to found his own investment firm, Grovepoint Capital, which Fried said has completed “a couple billion dollars” in deals since inception.

Fried became acquainted with Kirsh shortly after he relocated to London and credits the billionaire with helping his venture prosper in its first five years. He said Kirsh has advised on all of Grovepoint’s deals, which include acquiring Total SA’s UK downstream assets and buying a stake in Israeli microalgae farm Algatechnologies. He’ll continue to be involved with Grovepoint and remain on the court of the Bank of England until his term’s expiration in May 2019.

The move comes one month after Ashvin Chhabra, the former chief investment officer of Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, joined as president of the family office for hedge fund billionaire James Simons. Both appointments were made as family offices worldwide suffered “lackluster” returns, according to a report released in September by UBS AG and London-based research firm Campden Wealth.

Swaziland Mills

Kirsh, 83, made his first fortune in Africa in 1958, starting with a Swaziland corn-milling business that later evolved into a dominant food retailer in his native South Africa. Today the billionaire’s most valuable asset is Jetro Holdings, a New York-based company that manages Jetro Cash & Carry and Restaurant Depot, which had more than $9 billion in combined revenue in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Fried said he won’t be directly involved with the operations of Jetro or Kirsh’s other subsidiary companies, which all have their own CEOs. He said his role will be to oversee existing investments, hunt for new opportunities and prepare the group for a time when Kirsh is no longer involved.

“Natie said to me, over time families make transitions, and I’d like you to be there during one of these transitional moments,” Fried said. “And I said to him, I’d like you to teach me everything you can.”

>>16696637

>Fried became acquainted with Kirsh shortly after he relocated to London and credits the billionaire with helping his venture prosper in its first five years. He said Kirsh has advised on all of Grovepoint’s deals, which include acquiring Total SA’s UK downstream assets and buying a stake in Israeli microalgae farm Algatechnologies.

“Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried made their first investment in Israel. $50 million in Algatechnologies”

https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2013/06/23/leon-blitz-and-bradley-fried-made-their-first-investment-in-israel-50-million-in-algatechnologies/

June 23, 2013

Blitz and Fried, Grovepoint, have recently concluded their first major transaction in Israel, taking majority stakes in Algatechnologies Ltd.

One of the most successful examples of such a farm can be found on Kibbutz Ketura situated in the south of Israel, close to the popular holiday resort of Eilat.

The Kibbutz branch specialising in the commercial breeding of algae goes by the name Algatechnologies, and has earned an international reputation in the cultivation of micro-algae, which goes into the production of what is regarded as among the most effective and powerful antioxidants available, which goes by the name of astaxanthin.

Astaxanthin is extracted from the algae, in the form of a much more pleasant looking dark red organic pigment. Apart from its many health giving benefits, Astaxanthin also make up a considerable ingredient in the production of cosmetic products, sun creams, food supplements, and even crustacean food colourants.

What’s most important is that Astaxanthin, as a powerful natural antioxidant offers proven health benefits in treating several health conditions related to cardiovascular health joint and muscle function, skin care health among many other medical conditions. The natural astaxanthin goes into the production of AstaPure®, whose benefits are already well known and established in the Japanese health food product markets whilst demand for the product is rapidly increasing in the United States as well as throughout Europe.

These are the reasons why Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried through the investment company Grovepoint has invested an estimated $50 million in exchange for a 56 per cent stake in the business.

Their participation in Algatechnologies marks Grovepoint’s first investment in Israel, who displayed their intentions to create a serious presence in the country by establishing a local office in 2012, with resident managers Hagai Stadler and Gil Meirovich on the lookout for investing opportunities.

Leon Blitz speaking on behalf of Grovepoint after the deal had been completed stated that the company had always wanted to invest in Israel as soon as it was formed. “ We are very keen on the country because of their technological prowess particularly in water, agriculture and food, biotech and clean tech which also enjoys the benefit of being very transportable.” Mr Blitz summed up

Grovepoint also announced their plans to increase Algatech’s production levels by hundred percent over the next few years, and will be making additional capital available to expand the sphere of the business. Their intentions are to increase the coverage of “AstaPure” on a global basis. In addition Grovepoint have made a commitment to investing in increased research and development facilities, to further the development of new algae-derived products.

Both Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried were born in Cape Town, South Africa and confess to being close friends for almost four decades. The pair first met whilst training to be accountants with the international partnership of Arthur Andersen.

Blitz left Arthur Anderson to join international investment company Investec, first working for them in their South African office, before being transferred to London in the early 1990s, going on to become head of direct investments and growth and acquisition finance, and head of private banking in the UK.

Bradley Fried rejoined his friend in London and at the Investec Bank in the UK in 2000, by way of the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he completed his MBA and a spell at merchant bankers McKinsey & Co in New York.

The pair left Investec Bank in 2010 to form Grovepoint , and since its foundation the company has made $1 billion of investments.

>>16696619

>Brad was raised in South Africa and trained with Arthur Andersen

>>16696646

>Both Leon Blitz and Bradley Fried were born in Cape Town, South Africa and confess to being close friends for almost four decades. The pair first met whilst training to be accountants with the international partnership of Arthur Andersen.

“Olympus: Where were the auditors?” – “The ghosts of [Arthur] Andersen may still be with us.” [Enron]

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/olympus-where-were-the-auditors-1177231

November 14, 2011

If you happen to be a connoisseur of accounting scandals, then the past month or so has been about as good as it gets, capped by the unfolding disaster at Olympus. On the flip side, if you are an auditor for a big accounting firm, it just got that much harder to argue that society should value your services.

The scam at Olympus was simple. The Japanese maker of cameras and endoscopes hid losses by treating them as assets. It said it had been doing so since the 1990s.

Where were the auditors? While we still don’t know the full extent of what they knew and when, just looking at who the outside auditors were is fascinating.

Olympus’s auditor in the 1990s was the Japanese affiliate of Arthur Andersen, then one of the so-called Big Five accounting firms. After Andersen collapsed in 2002, KPMG acquired its Japanese practice and took over Olympus’s audit. KPMG remained the auditor through 2009. Olympus switched to Ernst & Young later that year.

The ghosts of Andersen may still be with us. It was indicted in 2002 over its conduct as auditor for Enron. Big accounting frauds turned up later at many of its former clients – names that included WorldCom, Dynegy, Qwest, Freddie Mac and Refco.

The Financial Times reported last month that KPMG had raised questions at some point about Olympus’s accounting. But no disagreements between KPMG and Olympus were disclosed publicly. Nor did Ernst & Young’s opinion letters flag any problems. Its latest audit report, signed June 29, noted that the firm audited Olympus’s financial statements only for the fiscal years 2010 and 2011, and that the company’s 2009 books were examined “by other auditors” whose report “expressed an unqualified opinion”. Now both Ernst & Young and KPMG have egg on their faces.

You can hear the echoes of past scandals, too, in the collapse of MF Global Holdings, which was built partly through an acquisition of Refco’s assets in 2005. MF’s auditor, PwC, as recently as May said its controls were fine, as did MF’s chief executive at the time, Jon Corzine. Whether that was accurate is now in question. More than a week after MF filed for bankruptcy, there’s still about $600 million (R4.7 billion) missing and unaccounted for.

Then there’s last month’s implosion at Dexia, the French-Belgian lender that took a government bailout to avoid collapse. Dexia got a clean audit opinion from Deloitte’s Belgian affiliate in March.

So many large companies have blown up after getting the all-clear from a Big Four accounting firm that many people regard auditor opinion letters as a joke. The client pays the auditor, after all. Regulators for decades have tried figuring out ways to get around this fundamental flaw by passing all sorts of rules requiring that auditors be “independent”. New waves of accounting scandals keep coming anyway.

Yet the next logical step – stripping the accounting profession of its golden goose by making outside audits voluntary for public companies – always has seemed like a horrible idea, because it practically would be an invitation for more frauds.

At least the public can revel in the entertainment value of all these scandals. It may not be much of a silver lining, but it is something to distract us from the obvious conclusion that we’re stuck for now with a system that too often doesn’t work.

The biggest fear for the Big Four cartel should be that someday investors will become so fed up that they demand the status quo be chucked entirely, figuring they’ve got nothing left to lose. We’re not there yet, but give it time. If the auditing industry can’t find a way to re-instill value in its most basic product, even terrible solutions may start to look like drastic improvements.

“A man stabbed and dragged infront of the SABC cameras in Soweto”

https://twitter.com/HerbertMemela/status/1546547458947399688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1546547458947399688%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesouthafrican.com%2Fnews%2Fbreaking-watch-stabbing-caught-on-camera-soweto-sabc-crew-video%2F

Notice the children witnessing this and they are not phased and seem to be desensatized. They can become the leaders of tomorrow

“A man stabbed and dragged infront of the SABC cameras in Soweto. Crime is rife at Nomzamo settlement. This happened few meters away from Mdlalose's Tavern. The Police Minister Bheki Cele has promises to deploy more police in the area.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1546547458947399688

>>16722741

“SABC News crew witness brutal stabbing in Nomzamo informal settlement: Ofentse Setimo”

https://youtu.be/PEDGqioZgdk

“Investigators found more than 100 spent AK-47 cartridges at the tavern in Orlando, Soweto, where 15 people were shot dead early on Sunday morning. Police Minister, Bheki Cele, has visited the Nomzamo informal settlement, where gunmen opened fire on tavern patrons. SABC reporter Ofentse Setimo joins us now from Orlando in Soweto.”

“WATCH: Horrific stabbing witnessed by SABC camera crew in Soweto”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-watch-stabbing-caught-on-camera-soweto-sabc-crew-video/

12-07-2022

There aren’t any words that can aptly describe the sheer horror witnessed by SABC journalists and the camera operators on Monday afternoon. While reporting on the Soweto tavern shooting, two members of the news network inadvertently captured part of a brutal stabbing incident.

SOWETO STABBING WITNESSED BY SABC CREW

Violence in this part of Soweto is nothing new, but the way this stabbing was committed so brazenly has even left hardened locals stunned. [they do not look stunned to me in the video of the previous post]

NOMZAMO SETTLEMENT ‘BLIGHTED BY VIOLENCE’

Setimo was accompanied by cameraman Herbert Memela. The pair were stunned when, just as they prepared to interview a witness at the Soweto tavern shooting, a man drove a knife into his victim’s body – with blood allegedly spurting onto the crew’s tripods.

The man collapsed to the floor, before others continued to beat and kick him. The hapless victim was then dragged out of the road, and his fate remains unclear. According to the senior journo, other camera crews witnessed this shocking act.

“We were setting up to interview a witness, when two men asked if she wanted to go through with it – almost joking with her. Out of nowhere, someone came and stabbed one of those men with a knife. At first, we thought he was greeting him. Then we saw blood on his palm.”

“That blood even splattered onto one of our tripods. We then moved away from the scene, and the community attempted to separate the two males. It is indicative of the crime in Nomzamo right now. We weren’t the only camera crew who captured this, either.”

Ofentse Setimo

“THE LINK BETWEEN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES AND SEX TRAFFICKING”

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/272964.pdf

June 2017

Extractive industries involve the removal of non-renewable raw materials such as oil, gas, metals, and minerals from the earth. Although communities can benefit from such industries by using these natural resources for sustainable development, their extraction has also “triggered violent conflicts, degraded the environment, worsened gender and other inequalities, displaced communities, and undermined democratic governance,” according to the UN Development Program. Furthermore, mining, drilling, and quarrying activities often occur in relatively remote areas with minimal infrastructure and limited rule of law, leading to the development of makeshift communities, such as mining “boom towns,” that are vulnerable to crime.

Forced labor in extractive industries has been well-documented; however, the link between these industries and sex trafficking is increasingly an issue of grave concern among governments and advocates alike. Bolivian and Peruvian girls are subjected to sex trafficking in mining areas in Peru, and women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking near gold mines in Suriname and Guyana. In Madagascar, the government and NGOs have reported increasing commercial sexual exploitation of children related to mining sectors. In other areas, this type of exploitation involves organized crime. For example, in Colombia, NGOs report organized criminal groups control sex trafficking in some mining areas.

Discovery of raw materials will necessarily lead to a large influx of workers and other individuals, some of whom create a demand for commercial sex. In Senegal, a gold rush resulted in rapid migration from across West Africa; some of these migrants are women and children exploited in sex trafficking. Likewise, in the oil industry, individuals are sometimes recruited with false promises of work opportunities, but instead are exploited in commercial sex. Service providers in areas near camps surrounding large-scale oil extraction facilities, such as the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota in the United States, have reported that sex traffickers have exploited women in the area, including Native American women.

Sex trafficking related to extractive industries often occurs with impunity. Areas where extraction activities occur are usually remote and may be difficult to access, meaning that workers are isolated from government oversight and community support and may have less access to protective services, legal advocates, and law enforcement personnel. Information on victim identification and law enforcement efforts in mining areas can be difficult to obtain or verify.

Traffickers take advantage of work settings that are culturally isolated or physically remote to compel adults and children to work in unsafe and often abusive situations and exploit them in sex trafficking. Anti-trafficking strategies should address the unique risks workers face in settings that are isolated from the public, from law enforcement, and from traditional support networks.

>>16756816

The Pirbright Institute – “Our major stakeholders”; Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and so on

https://www.pirbright.ac.uk/partnerships/our-major-stakeholders

The Pirbright Institute is a publicly funded private company. We have a diverse range of major stakeholders, and receive strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Our major stakeholders are:

• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

• UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

• Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council (MRC) and other research funding agencies

• International funding and disease control agencies, such as OIE, WHO, the European Commission, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

• Industrial producers of veterinary vaccines and antivirals

• Farmers and livestock keepers

An excellent lecture! Does this not remind you of COVID? Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Forest Laboratories, are mentioned.

“Psychiatry & Big Pharma: Exposed - Dr James Davies, PhD”

https://youtu.be/-Nd40Uy6tbQ

Posted November 24, 2019

Why, without solid scientific justification, has the number of mental disorders risen from 106 in the 1960s, to around 370 today?

Why has the definition of mental disorder expanded to include ever more domains of human experience?

In the first part of this lecture, Dr James Davies will take us behind the scenes of how the psychiatrist’s bible, the DSM, was actually written – did science drive the construction of new mental disorder categories like ADHD and major depression or were less scientific and more unexpected processes at play? His exclusive interviews with the creators of the DSM reveal the answer.

The second part will address why psychiatry is such big business, and why, on the whole, it may be doing more harm than good. You’ll get insider knowledge on how psychiatry has put riches and medical status above patients’ well-being. The charge sheet is damning; negative drug trials routinely buried; antidepressants that work no better than placebos; research regularly manipulated to produce positive results; doctors, seduced by huge pharmaceutical rewards, creating more disorders and prescribing more pills; and ethical, scientific and treatment flaws unscrupulously concealed by mass-marketing.

You’ll learn the true human cost of an industry that, in the name of helping others, has actually been helping itself.

Dr James Davies graduated from the University of Oxford in 2006 with a DPhil in Social and Medical Anthropology.

He is a Reader in Social Anthropology and Mental Health at the University of Roehampton and a practicing psychotherapist. James has delivered lectures at universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Oslo, Brown, UCL and Columbia.

He has written for The Times, The New Scientist, The Guardian and Salon, and is author of the bestselling book: Cracked: why psychiatry is doing more harm than good.

James is the co-founder of the Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry, now secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence. His latest book: ‘Mental Health in Crisis’ will be published later this year.

>>16763881

“Gravitas Plus: How Big Pharma pushes dangerous drugs and reaps profits”

https://youtu.be/XCciAJJMt9Q

Posted January 9, 2022

The pandemic has revealed the power of big pharma. Major drug manufacturers and suppliers have the power to set prices, influence regulators and lobby lawmakers. This power has allowed big pharma to push potentially dangerous drugs. How? Palki Sharma tells you.

>>16931494

>“The Final Volcker Oil for Food Report: An Assessment” - George Galloway (An ANC agent) and others

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) - D. SANDI MAJALI

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

PAGE 103 OF 623; PAGE 104 OF 623; PAGE 105 OF 623

D. SANDI MAJALI

One example in the Programme of exploitation of the symbiotic relationship between a country’s closely aligned political and business figures and the Government of Iraq, is that of Montega Trading (Pty) Limited (“Montega Trading”) and Imvume Management (Pty) Ltd. (“Imvume”). As described below, the principals of these two companies used their relationships with South African political leaders to obtain oil allocations under the Programme.

Throughout the Programme, South Africa and Iraq were actively developing business and political ties. In late November 1999, South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad led a delegation of 30 South African companies with interests in oil, electricity, and other sectors to Iraq. One purpose of the visit was “to expose South African businesses with already established interests in the so-called ‘oil-for-food’ programme with Iraq to the processes involved in winning such UN-approved contracts.”198

Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and other Iraqi officials were also interested in gaining the political support of South Africa and its leaders. At the time, South Africa chaired several influential political alliances. South African President Thabo Mbeki was Chair of the NonAligned Movement (“NAM”) and had been the President of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (“ANC”), since 1997. He was also Chairman of the African Union. Within weeks after Mr. Pahad returned from his trip, Iraq established its Embassy in Pretoria, and, by 2001, Iraq had accredited a full Ambassador to South Africa using Iraqi funds that had been frozen until then.199

South African officials also pushed to improve trade relations. In October 2002, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs (“DFA”) sent a delegation of senior officials to Iraq. Both sides reportedly expressed satisfaction with the state of relations between their respective countries, which had been boosted by Mr. Aziz’s then recent visit to South Africa. Later that month, the DFA issued a statement that Mr. Pahad would visit Iraq to represent South Africa at the annual Baghdad International Trade Fair in November. During his visit, Mr. Pahad reportedly met with Saddam Hussein and conveyed a message to him from President Mbeki. He also met with Mr. Ramadan and Mr. Aziz, and the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Trade, and the Minister of Electricity. According to the public statement of Mr. Pahad, Saddam Hussein told South African officials that he would instruct his ministers to “observe special care” with respect to economic, technical, and scientific relations with South Africa.200

Mr. Aziz perceived that South Africa could be supportive of Iraq. During his July 2002 official visit of Mr. Aziz to South Africa, Mr. Aziz attended a farewell dinner hosted by the ANC with members of South Africa-Iraq Friendship Association (“SAIFA”) and the business community at the Cabanga Conference Center, which was funded by Imvume, which—as described below— had been purchasing oil from Iraq under the Programme. In October 2002, during a United Nations weapons inspection crisis, NAM supported the Security Council’s efforts to explore a peaceful resolution to the situation. NAM issued a statement calling for inspectors to return to Iraq. That month, South Africa dispatched Mr. Pahad for discussions with China, Russia, and France concerning Iraq, and similar discussions with those countries occurred one month later. In January 2003, Mr. Pahad traveled to Italy, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia to discuss Iraq and to present the views of South Africa and NAM. As chair of NAM, South Africa successfully called for three emergency Security Council meetings to broaden the debate on Iraq and included non-Security Council members so that Council members could hear the views of the wider United Nations membership before adopting a resolution. During February 2003, South Africa dispatched its own team of weapons inspectors to Iraq to supplement the efforts of UNMOVIC inspectors. This action was designed to demonstrate that weapons inspections were still possible and that Iraq was prepared to cooperate with them, thereby negating a key justification for war. When war broke out in Iraq in March 2003, Kgalema Motlanthe, Secretary-General of the ANC, assured Iraq of the ANC’s support for all “efforts to end the unilateral aggression of the United States and other countries.”201

>>16934485 - continued

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) - D. SANDI MAJALI

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

One of the areas in which the political and commercial interests of South Africa and Iraq coincided was in the Oil-for-Food Programme. During the Programme, two South African companies that profited from Iraq’s efforts to deliver business opportunities to South Africa in return for political support were Montega Trading and Imvume. South African businessmen formed the companies to take advantage of the oil contracts available under the Programme, and they were able to obtain a total of eight million barrels of oil in allocations.

1. Montega Trading (Pty) Limited

An Iraqi-American, Shakir Al-Khafaji, helped facilitate the granting of oil allocations to Sandi Majali, a self-proclaimed advisor to the ANC and President Mbeki, through his joint venture with Mr. Majali and Rodney Hemphill, a South African businessman, called Montega Trading Limited. Mr. Al-Khafaji had access to Mr. Aziz; indeed, Mr. Aziz specifically asked Mr. AlKhafaji to help strengthen the ties between Iraq and South Africa. In December 2000, Mr. AlKhafaji travelled to Baghdad with Mr. Majali and Mr. Hemphill to meet with Iraqi officials. During their meetings in Iraq, Mr. Majali described himself as an advisor to both the ANC and President Mbeki. After several days of meetings, Mr. Majali was allocated two million barrels of oil. The SOMO contract of approval explicitly referenced “Sandi Majali—Advisor to the President of South Africa.”202

>>16934485

>>16934493

“Sandi Majali found dead”

https://mg.co.za/article/2010-12-26-sandi-majali-found-dead/

26 December 2010

The body of tycoon Sandi Majali has been found in the Quatermain Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Sunday, Moneyweb reported.

The cause of death was unknown on Sunday evening. Moneyweb quoted Majali’s lawyer John Ncebetsha as saying the family were preparing a statement.

The hotel’s general manager Rosie Chilewitz said she could confirm that Majali had stayed at the hotel on Saturday night, and that his body had been found on Sunday morning.

Chilewitz however could not say when Majali had checked into the hotel.

“I can’t give you any more details on that, all I can say is that he was with us last night. Police are dealing with the rest,” she told the South African Press Association.

Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, Gauteng police spokesperson, said he could not confirm that the man found dead was Majali, and that the family needed to identify the body.

Dlamini also could not say whether the man had any injuries to his body.

“An inquest into this has been opened,” he added.

The Mail & Guardian broke the story of how Majali and his company Imvume Management diverted millions of rands of public money to the African National Congress before the 2004 elections.

PetroSA paid R15-million to Imvume in December 2003 as an “advance” on a shipment of oil condensate for which payment was not yet due and without checking whether Imvume had the ability to repay. Within days Imvume transferred R11-million to the ANC and smaller amounts to, among others, a brother of then-minerals and energy minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and a builder renovating the private home of then-social development minister Zola Skweyiya.

When Imvume failed to pay its foreign supplier in turn PetroSA obliged by paying the same amount again. PetroSA’s efforts to reclaim the money — using a lawyer who happened to be Majali’s business partner — were ineffectual.

Imvume had won large oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq after travelling to Baghdad with then-top Luthuli House officials Smuts Ngonyama, Mendi Msimang and Kgalema Motlanthe.

‘Hijacking’

Majali also appeared in court this year, for “hijacking” a company, Kalahari Resources.

Majali along with three other men were expected to go on trial in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court to face charges of fraud.

They allegedly removed Kalahari Resources’ two directors, Brian Amos Mashile and his sister Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, from the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) database.

The two siblings had to bring an urgent interdict before the High Court in Johannesburg to get themselves reinstated as directors of the company.

Kalahari Resources owns a 40% stake in Kalagadi Manganese, the mining company developing an R11-billion Northern Cape manganese mine and sinter. – Mail & Guardian reporter and Sapa

“Hero’s send off for [Sandi] Majali”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/heros-send-off-for-majali-1009933

January 10, 2011

The ANC and black economic empowerment fraternities - bodies that controversial businessman Sandi Majali dedicated his life to - appeared to shun him in death as none of the most prominent leaders attended his funeral yesterday.

However, Majali, who achieved notoriety as an ANC benefactor, was given a hero’s send-off in a colourful funeral that turned the sleepy village of Qhubuswayo, outside Port St Johns, into a hive of activity.

The most senior ANC leader present was former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi, now the Deputy Minister for Correctional Services, who was introduced as having been dispatched by the ANC’s national executive committee to represent the party.

Referring to the absence of ANC leaders, KwaZulu-Natal MPL and ANC North Coast leader Bheki Ntuli, who spoke on behalf of Majali’s friends, said that “when days are dark, friends are few”.

Others who attended included Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, the former minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities, Tourism Deputy Minister Tokozile Xasa, Eastern Cape Transport MEC Thandi Marawu, KZN Speaker Peggy Nkonyeni, Eastern Cape ANC chairman Phumulo Massaule and KZN SACP secretary Themba Mthembu.

It was only at the weekend that ANC president Jacob Zuma acknowledged him among the party’s fallen cadres.

In his address, Ramatlhodi said: “Majali is one of us, our flesh and our blood. There were times when we could not pay salaries for staff of the ANC, and Majali paid those salaries.

The funeral was conducted in true ANC style, with marshals ushering in the nearly 3 000 mourners. The marshals’ T-shirts bore Majali’s picture, the emblems of the ANC, SACP and Cosatu, and read: “Sandi Majali – A selfless revolutionary. He dedicated his life to fighting for economic liberation of the black majority.”

His shiny casket was placed on a stage draped in ANC colours and was covered with a blanket. Several speakers told of Majali’s vision, selflessness, dedication to the economic liberation of black people and his resourcefulness.

Massaule said that Majali was the “glue” that held the ANC-led alliance together.

“What we read in newspapers is a complete distortion of the life of this comrade,” he said. “We know him and we struggled with him. He was an epitome of the struggle.”

Majali’s son Phillip called his father an “achiever and a trendsetter”.

“He was the first person to have an insurance company, own a petrol chain and to break into the most difficult oil industry. We will always remember him,” he said.

At the time of his death, Majali had just been released from prison after being arrested for allegedly “hijacking” mining company Kalahari Resources.

“Majali's ghost haunts ANC” Part 1

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2011-09-18-majalis-ghost-haunts-anc/

18 September 2011

In a startling letter addressed to ANC leaders before he died, Oilgate kingpin Sandi Majali spells out his frustration at being left out in the cold - despite giving the party millions of rands - and threatens to spill the beans on more shady dealings.

The letter was written just weeks before his death in December last year, at a time when the businessman's empire was unravelling and his powerful friends had apparently abandoned him.

Majali's revelations include the payment of R18-million - and not R11-million as previously reported - to the ANC. The money was funnelled through his company, Imvume Management, by state-owned oil company PetroSA in 2003. It was used to fund the ANC's election campaign in 2004.

That scandal became known as Oilgate.

In the letter - dated November 15 2010 and addressed to President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe - Majali accounts for how the R18-million was disbursed.

"R11-million was paid to the ANC and R7-million was paid directly to service providers for the January 8 function [marking the anniversary of the party's founding]," Majali said.

He discloses other payments made to the ANC.

"In 2004 I paid more than R3-million for the medical aid of the organisation as it was three months in arrears. This payment brought the scheme up to date and members could continue drawing benefits," he writes.

"I also paid and facilitated R10.5-million to the ANC through my various companies and the records are available for inspection."

Majali writes that, in total, "I personally paid and facilitated more than R45-million to the ANC between 1999 and 2006".

Majali had just been arrested for his attempted corporate hijacking of Kalahari Resources - a company in which he had a stake - and was facing a possible new probe into the Oilgate scandal.

"It was my money and I could do whatever I wanted with it. I then spent R18-million of the R24-million (and not just R11-million as reported in the newspapers) in assisting the organisation that I support. Since then the police came back to reopen the case," Majali complains.

He makes an implicit threat that should either probe continue, he would disclose more about his dealings with the ruling party.

"They are forcing me to say things that I would not normally disclose in my lifetime, because I have assisted my organisation willingly," he writes.

The party denies receiving the letter - but Majali's close associates told the Sunday Times he was given an assurance that the concerns raised in his letter would be addressed and he would receive a response, by January this year.

But Majali was found dead on December 26 last year at a Sandton hotel.

>>16934537

“Majali's ghost haunts ANC” Part 2

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2011-09-18-majalis-ghost-haunts-anc/

18 September 2011

The copy of the letter seen by the Sunday Times is unsigned, but several of Majali's close associates have confirmed its authenticity.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said: "He never sent that letter to me. I've never seen such a letter."

Mantashe refused to reveal how much Majali had contributed to the party over the years.

"I don't know [how much he contributed]. Do you want us to tell you how much Standard Bank contributed, how much Absa contributed? I'm not going to do that, you know that," he said.

When it was put to Mantashe that the party was not being transparent about its dealings with Majali, Mantashe said: "There's a difference between transparency and being nude … why should I go around telling how much people contributed?"

ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa told the Sunday Times on Friday that there was no record of the letter or the money.

But, after seeing detailed questions e-mailed to ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu, Phosa called back to say he would discuss the matter with "the president, deputy president and Jackson".

Yesterday, Phosa's response was that he had "informed the relevant people" and that there was "no memory of a letter being received".

Phosa added: "Our books are audited by Deloitte and there is no record of this money in our finances."

He added: "Majali isn't here to dispute what we are saying … in our culture it is not wise to engage someone who cannot respond, it is undignified."

Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj referred questions about Majali's claims about the money to ANC spokesman Mthembu.

In the letter Majali denies that he had been refunded R11-million by the ANC, as the party had claimed.

"I want to make it clear to those that were not part of my funding activities of the ANC that I have been hearing that someone from the ANC has been informing the media that the ANC has refunded the R11-million to me.

"I place on record that I have never demanded the R11-million from the ANC and, even if the ANC offered, I would be unwilling to take back the money," Majali writes.

Yesterday, Phosa expressed surprise: "Mendi [Msimang, the former treasurer-general] said at Polokwane that the money was returned."

Majali goes on to say: "It is not my intention to draw the ANC [in]to my prosecution process. I simply want to alert the leadership, who may not have sufficient information of what happened in the fundraising process of the ANC at the time."

In 2005 the then public protector, Lawrence Mushwana, declined to pursue the Oilgate money trail to the ANC, saying this was outside his mandate.

In June this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside a decision by the High Court in Pretoria ordering the public protector to reopen the investigation into whether Majali had diverted millions belonging to PetroSA to the ANC.

Public protector Thuli Madonsela said after that ruling that she would "review" Mushwana's report.

The high-flying business tycoon - who was named in the United Nations report on Iraq's oil-for-food scandal - regularly bankrolled ANC dinner parties.

Majali's death was shrouded in mystery, and speculation about the cause of death is still rife, ranging from poisoning to respiratory problems.

Top-ranking ANC members were noticeably absent from his funeral and hesitant to comment after his death.

The exception was the Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Ngoako Ramatlhodi .

>>16934537

>>16934540

“Majali's ghost haunts ANC” Part 3

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2011-09-18-majalis-ghost-haunts-anc/

18 September 2011

At Majali's funeral near Port St Johns in January , Ramatlhodi told mourners that many ANC leaders wanted to deny Majali's cash injection into the ANC, but it was a fact.

"There was a time when he was paying the salaries of some people at Luthuli House. Some of us want to deny it, but we can't."

In December 2008, the Sunday Times reported that then president Kgalema Motlanthe had moved into a R6-million Saxonwold mansion that was identified for him by Majali, who arranged that his business associate Molotsi Sifora sign the agreement of sale. Motlanthe occupied the home while occupational rent was paid with cheques from Majali's company.

At the time Motlanthe's spokesman, Thabo Masebe, said Motlanthe had a lease agreement with Sifora and "was not involved in the sale at all".

At Majali's memorial in Bryanston last year, Ramatlhodi said Majali's contribution to the ANC's 2004 election campaign "turned out to be a curse that he carried to his grave".

Ramatlhodi said: "His first sin was to support the ANC. His second sin was to insist on being an equal player in the economic sphere."

This year President Zuma included Majali in a tribute to party members who had died in 2010.

Sandton detective Captain Shaun Robson said Majali's death was still under investigation.

"The postmortem has been finalised but we are awaiting three more test results which can take one to four years to complete because of backlogs," he said.

Majali's family enlisted the help of a private pathologist in the hope that this would shed more light on how Majali died. The Sunday Times has established that tests by the private pathologist have been finalised.

Majali family spokesman John Ngcebetsha said: "The family wants to compare outcomes from both the state and the private pathologist. It is disappointing that the state is taking this long, but we are hoping that there will be an outcome before year end."

>>16934485

>>16934493

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) – D. SANDI MAJALI, IMVUME MANAGEMENT

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

Page 108 of 623; Page 109 of 623

1. Imvume Management (Pty) Limited

After the shipping incident, Mr. Majali continued to receive oil allocations through a new company, Imvume. Because Montega Trading had failed to pay the outstanding surcharges, SOMO refused to sell oil to Mr. Majali in Phase X. When Mr. Majali complained to Iraqi officials, SOMO was ordered to allocate oil to Mr. Majali in Phase XI. Imvume managed to obtain two Iraqi oil contracts in Phases XI and XII.206

Prior to the renewal of his oil allocations, Mr. Majali had been very involved in strengthening ties between South Africa and Iraq. In September 2001, as Chairperson of both the SAIFA and the South African Business Council for Economic Transformation (“SABCETT”), Mr. Majali led a South African delegation to Baghdad, which included officials from the South African Strategic Fuel Fund Association and South African Department of Minerals and Energy. The delegation was involved in discussions on strengthening ties between the ANC and the Iraq Friendship Association and Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party (“Ba’ath Party”), as well as building better oil trade relationships between the two countries. Mr. Majali undertook the trip as a recognized representative of the ANC. In a letter to the Iraq Friendship Association, Mr. Motlanthe stated that Mr. Majali’s position as Chairperson of SAIFA had the ANC’s “full approval and blessing.” He also confirmed the ANC’s approval of Mr. Majali “as a designated person to lead the implementation processes arising out of our economic development programmes.”207

After these meetings, Mr. Majali wrote two letters to the Iraqi authorities in which he referred to a request for oil allocations that had been made to support South Africa’s political activities in connection with Iraq. In a letter to the President of the Iraqi Friendship Association, dated September 20, 2001, in his capacity as “Chairman” of SABCETT, Mr. Majali expressed the view that a “joint effort between the ANC and the Arab Ba’ath Party will add a lot of value towards achieving the common political objectives” and “will result in an effective strategy geared towards campaigning for the lifting of sanctions.” He went on to advise the President that, as had been discussed in their meeting in Baghdad, a letter had been sent to SOMO requesting an allocation of 12 million barrels of oil and requested that the transaction be facilitated:

__with particular attention to the competitive advantage pricing of this transaction for the benefit of both parties in order to build financial resources to support political programmes. I am convinced that you do appreciate that such financial resources are crucial for the long term sustainability of the political programmes that [the ANC and Ba’ath] parties will be implementing and to run seminars, workshops in order to develop effective political development strategies.__208

>>16938118

>>16934493

>>16934485

“INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME (630 page doc) – GLENCORE, D. SANDI MAJALI, MARC RICH and more

http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf

https://humanrightsvoices.org/assets/attachments/documents/volcker_report_10-27-05.pdf

Page 12 of 623; Page 47 of 623; Page 61 of 623; Page 106 of 623; Page 107 of 623; Page 109 of 623; Page 111 of 623; Page 146 of 623

Ultimately, four traders and companies financed and lifted over 60 percent of the Iraqi crude oil during the exporting crisis in Phase IX. The top financiers of Iraqi crude oil in that phase were Bayoil Supply & Trading Limited (“Bayoil”), the Taurus Group (“Taurus”), Glencore International AG (“Glencore”), and the Vitol Group (“Vitol”). None of these traders had been given the significant direct access to oil contracts that they sought under the Programme. In Phase IX, these companies purchased substantial amounts of crude oil through intermediary entities: Bayoil mainly through Italtech SAR, an Italian-based company; Taurus mainly through Fenar Petroleum Ltd. and Alcon Petroleum Ltd, Liechtenstein-based companies; Glencore through its own Swiss-based company, and Petrogaz Distribution S.A.; and Vitol mainly through Mastek Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian-based company, among others.

Iraq’s preference for French companies and the limited number of recipients in France for Iraqi crude oil led certain companies to pass themselves off to SOMO as being French-based. For example, Vitol S.A., a Switzerland-based company, purchased Iraqi oil under the name “Vitol France” even though no such company existed. Glencore managed to use its Glencore France S.A. subsidiary to contract with SOMO in just one phase. Marc Rich + Co. Investment AG, a Switzerland-based company, financed and purchased oil through European Oil and Trading Company (“E.O.T.C.”), a company that was established specifically for the purpose of trading oil under the Programme. Addax BV, a Switzerland-based company, had a new affiliated entity, Addax (France) S.A.R.L., incorporated to purchase Iraqi crude oil.

Mr. Majali used Montega Trading as the contracting company to purchase the oil. Montega Trading arranged to sell the oil through Sopak SA (“Sopak”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore. Glencore financed the contract with a $46,585,093 letter of credit through BNP, and it arranged for lifting and selling the oil. Although Glencore was backing Montega Trading’s SOMO contract, the company insisted that its name be concealed from disclosure to any third parties:203

Glencore did not have the oil delivered to the United States, as agreed in the contract, but instead had it shipped to Singapore. Over 1.85 million barrels were lifted on Montega’s contract at a total value of $45,502,470, using a United Nations pricing formula that took into account that the final destination would be the United States. As a result of Glencore’s change in shipping destination, Montega Trading, as the contracting company, owed millions of dollars to SOMO for the price differential.204

A couple of months later, Imvume obtained a contract to supply two million barrels of oil to the South African Strategic Fuel Fund Association. This association is responsible for the procurement and management of the strategic crude oil and petroleum products of South Africa. Because of concerns raised during the comprehensive due diligence of Imvume in the bidding process, __Glencore sent a letter to the South African Strategic Fuel Fund Association (“SFF”) representing that it backed Imvume “as its strategic partner.” As part of the contract conditions, Glencore was liable for performance of the contract, and Imvume needed approval to lift oil from SOMO by March 2002.__210

__Ultimately, Imvume did not sell the oil under its SOMO contract (M/11/72) to fulfill its obligation to supply oil to SFF. Imvume had Glencore purchase four million barrels from two Russian companies for shipping to South Africa.__213

Like Bayoil and Taurus, Glencore benefited from the scarcity of willing buyers for Iraqi crude oil in Phase IX after surcharges had been imposed by the Government of Iraq.

Claude Kaspereit, a businessman and son of the French Parliamentarian Gabriel Kaspereit, was allocated a total of over 9.5 million barrels of oil from the Government of Iraq. Mr. Kaspereit used a France-based shell company, European Oil and Trading Company (“E.O.T.C.”), to enter into SOMO contracts to purchase oil under the Programme. Marc Rich + Co. Investment A.G. (“Marc Rich + Co.”) financed four million barrels of oil under E.O.T.C.’s contract in Phase IX. Marc Rich + Co. directed BNP Paris not to disclose its identity to BNP New York in connection with its financing of the United Nations contract.105