{"id":4708,"date":"2017-08-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/exclusive-guptaleaks-guptas-blue-lights-mystery-solved\/"},"modified":"2024-09-22T16:51:31","modified_gmt":"2024-09-22T16:51:31","slug":"exclusive-guptaleaks-guptas-blue-lights-mystery-solved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/exclusive-guptaleaks-guptas-blue-lights-mystery-solved\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE #GuptaLeaks: Guptas\u2019 blue lights mystery solved"},"content":{"rendered":"

The #GuptaLeaks have finally solved the mystery of the blue light vehicles that illegally ferried hundreds of guests to the infamous Sun City wedding extravaganza in April 2013.<\/p>\n

One of the enduring riddles from the Guptagate scandal was the identity of \u201cS&M Transportation\u201d, an unregistered company that was found in a government probe to have billed the Guptas for the provision of vehicles illegally fitted with blue lights to escort the family\u2019s guests between Waterkloof air force base and Sun City.<\/p>\n

We can now reveal that the vehicles belong to the same businessman that helped the head of the presidential protection service (PPS) to buy a house. The vehicles used during the audacious stunt were provided by Phineas Manthata, the owner of Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement (ITLE). Manthata\u2019s company is a supplier of blue lights to various units of the South African Police Service (SAPS).<\/p>\n

This follows our revelation last month<\/a> that Manthata in 2012 contributed R700,000 towards the purchase of a house by Major-General Muzingaye Mxolisi Dladla, the head of the police\u2019s PPS. Dladla is a staunch ally of President Jacob Zuma, while his police unit happened to be a major client of Manthata\u2019s company.<\/p>\n

Dladla himself also has ties to the Guptas. He once listed a property owned by one of the Guptas\u2019 companies as his residential address and Rajesh \u201cTony\u201d Gupta, the youngest brother, admitted under oath that he turned to Dladla for assistance with transportation to Sun City.<\/p>\n

This poses the question: did Dladla knock on the door of Manthata, his personal benefactor and the supplier of his unit\u2019s blue lights, after the Guptas had asked him to help them secure blue light transportation?<\/p>\n

Bogus company<\/h5>\n

In May 2013, as the public outcry over the Waterkloof landing was raging, government\u2019s justice, crime prevention and security (JCPS) cluster announced that black BMW\u2019s with illegally-fitted blue lights used for the Gupta cavalcades were hired from \u201cS&M Transportation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA criminal case has been registered against the owner for illegally using emergency lights and fitting false registration plates,\u201d then justice minister Jeff Radebe stated on behalf of the JCPS cluster.<\/p>\n

The JCPS cluster\u2019s report on the Waterkloof landing later affirmed that \u201cS&M Transportation\u201d had broken several laws. Apart from the illegal blue lights and the false number plates, the company rendered security services without being registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA), as required by law.<\/p>\n

\u201cS&M Transportation\u201d wouldn\u2019t have been able to register with the PSIRA , seeing as the company was not registered. There is no trace of the company on the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission\u2019s (CIPC) database and, according to a Google search, the only company bearing that name is located in Shelbyville in the USA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also determined that an individual working for a bogus company had invoiced Mr Tony Gupta for the sum of R512,000 for protection services. Criminal investigations are taking place in all of these cases,\u201d according to the JCPS cluster report.<\/p>\n

The identities of the individuals behind \u201cS&M Transportation\u201d were never revealed, however, and the criminal probe appears to have come to naught.<\/p>\n

The SAPS did not comment on our queries about the outcome of the probe.<\/p>\n

Phone number reveals all<\/h5>\n

Thanks to the Gupta leaks emails, News24 could finally confirm the identity of the mysterious blue lights supplier.<\/p>\n

In July, we\u00a0 published a story<\/a> on individuals in the Presidency and other government officials\u00a0who had close dealings with members of the Gupta family or their associates.<\/p>\n

Among these officials were Dladla and his previous partner, Mogotladi \u201cMo\u201d Mogano, a chief director in the office of the deputy president.<\/p>\n

The report referenced an affidavit contained in the leaked documents that had been made to the police by Rajesh Gupta in the wake of the Waterkloof debacle.<\/p>\n

The youngest Gupta brother stated in the affidavit that he had requested Dladla to \u201cadvise\u201d him on matters relating to \u201croad transport security\u201d for the wedding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am aware of an initiative within the South African Police Service where members of the public can insist on protection\/control services at a prescribed fee and at a prescribed rate,\u201d reads the affidavit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expected an invoice from the South African Police Service for the [blue lights] services rendered on my request,\u201d Gupta added.<\/p>\n

But when Gupta was finally billed for the security services, it was by one Salome Manamela from \u201cS&T Transportation\u201d, not from the SAPS.<\/p>\n

Salome Mail<\/a> by sally<\/a> on Scribd<\/p>\n

Gupta claimed that he had no idea who Manamela or \u201cS&M Transporation\u201d was, and that he had provided the invoice to the police officers assigned to investigating the use of illegal blue lights and other transgressions related to the Guptas\u2019 security escorts.<\/p>\n

Manamela has denied that she had sent the invoice to Gupta, or that ITLE\u2019s vehicles were used for escorting the Guptas\u2019 wedding guests.<\/p>\n

But a source familiar with Manthata\u2019s business dealings confirmed that the two BMW\u2019s and the Golf GTI\u2019s mentioned in the JCPS report were indeed ITLE\u2019s cars. The source also recalled how police officers visited ITLE\u2019s business premises in Midrand after the Waterkloof debacle. The officers were looking for the fake number that were fitted to ITLE\u2019s BMW\u2019s, but these were apparently never found.<\/p>\n

The invoice for R512,000 is attached to an email contained in the Gupta leaks. The invoiced amount corresponds exactly to the amount mentioned in the JCPS cluster report.<\/p>\n

\u201cKindly find attached invoice for attention,\u201d Manamela\u00a0 had written Gupta in April 2013<\/a>, from a Yahoo email account.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 attached invoice for \u201cS&M Transportation\u201d<\/a> stated that the Guptas owed the \u201ccompany\u201d R512 000 for \u201cescort services\u201d between OR Tambo International Airport and Sun City, and between Waterkloof and Sun City.<\/p>\n

After the publication of our report that mentioned Manamela\u2019s name, and while News24 was busy investigating the R700 000 payment made by Manthata to Dladla, the above-mentioned source told us that Manamela is Manthata\u2019s personal assistant.<\/p>\n

We then traced the cellphone number on the invoice that Manamela had sent to Gupta. The trace not only revealed that the number belonged to Manamela, but also showed that she had listed ITLE as her employer on credit records.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot my email, invoice\u201d<\/h5>\n

Dladla, in an earlier response to our queries, denied that he\u2019d been involved in the Waterkloof debacle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not attend the Gupta wedding in Sun City nor was I part of any logistic arrangements either at Sun City or at Waterkloof air base,\u201d Dladla had claimed. He did not respond to our queries for this article.<\/p>\n

The Guptas and Manthata also failed to respond to our queries.<\/p>\n

Manthata\u2019s employee, Manamela, did however respond to queries through her lawyer, Diaan Ellis.<\/p>\n

Ellis confirmed that Manamela had been working as ITLE\u2019s \u201caccounts executive\u201d since 2013, but he claimed that his client\u2019s details were fraudulently used for the invoice sent to Tony Gupta.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur instructions are that whilst the invoice contains our client\u2019s bank account details and whilst the email purports to emanate from her, she denies having played any role on the generation of the invoice and she further denies having sent the email,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur client is extremely indignant and outraged that her identity has been misused and tenders her full co-operation to clear her name. This includes making her bank statements available for inspection and agreeing that Yahoo may be approached to provide detail on the generation of the email address utilised in the email and to release, for consumption, all emails sent to and received from the aforementioned email address,\u201d added Manamela\u2019s lawyer.<\/p>\n

Manamela also denied that ITLE\u2019s vehicles were used for the Waterkloof operation, but she admitted that police investigators came to the company\u2019s premises in the days after the debacle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is correct that the SAPS, during the course of a general investigation, which targeted a number of companies, attended ITLE\u2019s offices and subjected the company to an informal and impromptu investigation, during which time the records and electronic data of the company as well as our client\u2019s personal records, was subjected to inspection,\u201d said Ellis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur client does not know what suspicions were raised to provoke the investigation but what she can say is that after the inspection was concluded, it appeared to our client that the SAPS was satisfied that neither she nor ITLE enjoyed any relationship with the Guptas,\u201d Manamela\u2019s lawyer added.<\/p>\n

*Do you have information for our investigative journalists? Send an email to <\/em>[email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n