{"id":4578,"date":"2016-08-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/us-probe-links-cape-tycoon-to-mining-rights-bribery-in-africa\/"},"modified":"2016-08-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T00:00:00","slug":"us-probe-links-cape-tycoon-to-mining-rights-bribery-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/us-probe-links-cape-tycoon-to-mining-rights-bribery-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"US probe links Cape tycoon to mining rights bribery in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Pic:\u00a0<\/em><em>The Simandou mountain range is thought to be Africa&#8217;s richest iron ore deposit.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>US authorities have implicated Cape Town multimillionaire Walter Hennig, an associate of politician-businessman Tokyo Sexwale, in bribing officials of three African countries for mining rights \u2013 including, apparently, the president of Guinea.<\/p>\n<p>Hennig\u2019s Palladino Holdings entered a joint venture named Africa Management with US hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and Sexwale\u2019s Mvelaphanda Holdings in 2008 to invest in natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>Och-Ziff announced in 2014 that\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/article\/2014-07-10-sexwale-caught-up-in-us-probe-of-suspect-drc-mining-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US authorities were investigating it for bribery in Africa<\/a>. Earlier this month it said it had put aside $414-million (about R5.6-billion) for a potential settlement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/sh\/k6ohqigdcrve557\/AACKfk8aAdI3cg1_9kYbnKAWa?dl=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Downloads:\u00a0US Department of Justice letter,\u00a0Mebiame affidavit and complaint<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the first overt sign that the probe encompasses the activities of Och-Ziff\u2019s South African partners, US authorities on Tuesday arrested Samuel Mebiame, the son of a former Gabonese prime minister.<\/p>\n<p>Mebiame had allegedly worked as a fixer for Palladino, Africa Management and a mining company in which they were invested.<\/p>\n<p>The criminal complaint against Mebiame, filed in New York, alleges Mebiame \u201croutinely [paid] bribes to foreign government officials\u201d to get mineral rights for the companies.<\/p>\n<p>It does not identify Hennig by name, but refers to \u201cCo-conspirator #1\u201d, to whom it alleges Mebiame reported directly.<\/p>\n<p>Co-conspirator #1 is identified as the \u201cbeneficial owner\u201d of a company in the offshore haven of Turks and Caicos \u2013 reference to Palladino. Hennig\u2019s lawyer previously confirmed that his client was the beneficial owner.<\/p>\n<p>The lawyer on Wednesday said he was unable to reach Hennig or Palladino for comment. Och-Ziff declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/400x601.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Walter Hennig<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Among others allegedly complicit, the complaint identifies \u201cCo-conspirator #2\u201d as an employee of the joint venture &#8212; reference to Africa Management.<\/p>\n<p>Although Sexwale\u2019s Mvelaphanda appears to have withdrawn from the joint venture due to Reserve Bank strictures, Mvelaphanda CEO Mark Willcox stayed on as Africa Management CEO.<\/p>\n<p>Willcox\u2019s lawyer on Thursday denied his client was a co-conspirator. The complaint contains no detail pointing to him specifically.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint quotes from an email Mebiame had sent to Co-conspirator #2 during a dispute over remuneration. In it, he threatened to go public unless he got paid, saying: \u201cYou sistematicaly [sic]\u00a0used corruption in Africa to get the assets you have\u201d and \u201cI will let the world know what kind of international crooks you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Citing evidence collected from Och-Ziff, bank and travel records, emails, witness statements and earlier admissions by Mebiame, the complaint alleges bribery in Guinea, Niger and Chad.<\/p>\n<p>In Guinea, Mebiame allegedly kept close relations with\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/article\/2014-09-11-sa-spooks-fixed-guinea-poll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cGuinea Official #1\u201d \u2013 apparent reference to President Alpha Cond\u00e9\u00a0<\/a>\u2014 before and after he assumed office in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>In his earlier admissions, Mebiame allegedly told US investigators that he had \u201cspecial access to mining opportunities in Guinea because of payments he provided to senior government officials\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>&#8216;Rewriting&#8217; the Guinean mining code<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/article\/2015-02-05-sa-politicians-and-spies-named-in-guinea-mines-for-votes-rumpus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complaint claims Palladino reimbursed Mebiame<\/a> for payments and gifts to Guinean officials. Mebiame allegedly gave Cond\u00e9 an S-Class Mercedes and paid $440 000 to rent him a private Airbus.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint also alleges Mebiame and Hennig \u201cwere involved in rewriting\u201d the Guinean mining code after Cond\u00e9 assumed office, and that they targeted rival mining firms by drafting correspondence to be printed on Guinean state letterhead and signed by a minister.<\/p>\n<p>Hennig seemed to hit pay dirt in March 2011 when another offshore company he controlled <a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/article\/2012-06-29-tokyolinked-company-in-guinea-row\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> signed a contract lending Guinea $25-million<\/a> to set up the state miner, giving the Hennig company options to partner it on favourable terms.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2011, according to the complaint, Mebiame emailed Hennig good news: \u201cMinister of mines actually sent you his best regards \u2026 The outcome looks very interesting as they clearly asked me on the phone what could they give us immediately: [mining concessions].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, however, Hennig\u2019s loan hit front pages internationally. Cond\u00e9 repaid the loan and the partnership with the state miner did not go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Attempts on Wednesday\u00a0to contact Cond\u00e9 and the Guinean presidency failed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>&#8216;The minister&#8217;s man&#8217;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the complaint, Mebiame told the US investigators he bribed officials in Niger to get uranium licenses for Africa Management and the mining company in which it and Palladino were invested.<\/p>\n<p>This was corroborated by \u201ccorporate records, bank records and e-mails\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In an email to a Niger official, an executive of the mining company wrote: \u201cWe are most pleased to be entertaining the mining business in Niger, and we are most hopeful that our licenses will be issued in the coming month \u2026 [The mining company] would be pleased to contribute $100 000 to help finance your conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after that, bank records allegedly show, Palladino transferred $50 000 to the official\u2019s nephew, or \u201cthe minister\u2019s man\u201d according to a Mebiame email. Palladino also paid another $1.3-million to the \u201cminister\u2019s man\u201d for \u201cservices rendered\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint further details $2.7-million paid from a Hennig-controlled account to a Panama account beneficially owned by a lawyer linked to the officials.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint also details Mebiame\u2019s admissions and corroborating evidence for bribes allegedly paid to a Chadian official for uranium concessions there on behalf of Africa Management and the mining company.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amabhungane.co.za\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/250x106.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"106\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a><em><br \/>\nThe amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism produced this story. Like it? Be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.givengain.com\/cc\/amab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an amaB supporter<\/a> and help us do more. Know more? Send us <\/em><em><a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/page\/tip-offs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a tip-off.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Politically-linked multimillionaire Walter Hennig has been associated with the bribery of officials in three African countries for mining rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}