South Africa: How Gupta-linked firm scored big by connecting officials and consultants. By Susan Comrie | amaBhungane
Bianca Goodson, the
former chief executive of a Gupta-linked consulting firm, has broken her
silence 18 months after resigning in dismay. She has released a
detailed statement and 65 annexures, charging that her former firm, Trillian
Management Consulting, facilitated access to decision makers for consulting multinationals
McKinsey and Oliver Wyman. In return for this
political capital, she states, Trillian was to get up to half the fees in
lucrative consulting contracts with state entities.
Goodson initially
started preparing her statement for the expected parliamentary inquiry into
state capture, but after repeated delays decided to make it public via the Platform for the
Protection of Whistleblowers in Africa (Pplaaf).
It is telling that
Bianca Goodson’s whistleblower statement starts with the title, “My
introduction to; and exit from Trillian”. The former Anglo
American manager spent just five months working for the controversial consulting
firm. On March 19, 2016, she
resigned as the chief executive of Trillian Management Consulting, the
consulting subsidiary of Trillian Capital Partners, then controlled by Gupta
lieutenant Salim Essa.
"The risks
associated with this position, and specifically … with the shareholders of this
company, are exceptionally high. Succinctly put – my career would be over if
there was ever a public association between myself… Guptas and/or Salim,” her
06:00 resignation letter read. “Although not much, my
humble career history has been established on bloody hard work and integrity. I
would rather have a future career defined by those attributes than a
politically connected one.”
Since then, she has
sat on a goldmine of information about Trillian, its special relationship with
“captured” officials, and the on-off partnership with consulting giant McKinsey
that landed Trillian hundreds of millions from Eskom. “I wanted to speak up
sooner, but I was scared... I was 100% out of my depth in terms of the company
that I briefly kept,” Goodson told amaBhungane this week.
“When [former Public
Protector Thuli Madonsela’s] team approached me for a statement towards their
state of capture report, I was excited because I felt that I finally had the
opportunity to do the right thing. “Alas, her report
appears to not have been effective in stopping the likes of Trillian… [The
parliamentary inquiry] came up as an option and straight away, I started
preparing… I've been waiting for Parliament since [but] I don’t believe that I
will be called and I feel that I'm not doing the right thing by just waiting
and keeping quiet. “So now, I'm doing the
right thing, regardless of risk.”
The gatekeeper
Goodson’s disclosures
add to the growing body of evidence that suggests that starting in December
2015, Trillian became the gatekeeper of lucrative consulting contracts at some
state entities.
If international
consulting firms wanted in, they would have to take Trillian as their “supplier
development” partner and give it anywhere up to half of the contract. “TMC’s [Trillian
Management Consulting’s] business model was that work is secured through
[Salim] Essa’s relationships and TMC benefits from these relationships through
‘supplier development’ agreements,” Goodson says in her statement. “As such, TMC did not
directly conduct any work with government departments or state-owned entities
like Eskom, Transnet or Cogta [the Department of Co-operative Governance and
Traditional Affairs].
Rather, [Trillian] secured work and thereafter passed the
work over to internationally recognised companies and acted as the supplier
development partner of choice, with roughly a 50% share of revenues.” This was a symbiotic
relationship. The Trillian group was set up in 2015, and although it planned to
bring experienced staff on board, the company itself had no track record. As such, TMC needed
reputable international companies to act as an icebreaker, bringing Trillian in
their wake.
Trillian denied most of Goodson’s allegations and
responded in writing, saying: “Trillian has never held itself out to be a
gatekeeper of any institutions and is of the firm view that the skills base of
its employees and its history of delivery was sufficient to procure work…
Trillian consisted of approximately 80 highly skilled consultants and financial
services professionals… Trillian has always followed due process in securing
work either directly or in partnership with others. Trillian did not have any
advantage over any of its competitors and Trillian had to compete on its offering.”..
read more:
http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Investment-Holdings/whistleblower-how-gupta-linked-firm-scored-big-by-connecting-officials-and-consultants-20170927