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dam-l Corruption on LHWP/LS
two stories on the same subject, from a South African newspaper:
Business Day 29 July 1999
Suspicions raised in Lesotho by water boss's expensive tastes
Investigators followed money trail to find bank accounts in SA and Switzerland
David Greybe
CAPE TOWN - What drew the Lesotho authorities' attention to Masupha Ephraim
Sole was his "flashy" lifestyle, in particular his love for fast cars and
expensive houses, according to sources.
Sole, who was charged yesterday with taking R12m in bribes from a dozen
international companies, was appointed the first CEO of the Lesotho
Highlands Development Authority in October 1986.
The job of the authority is to manage the R10bn international project -
overseen by the SA and Lesotho governments - to take water to Gauteng from
Lesotho.
A civil engineer by trade, Sole headed the project for nine years until his
dismissal in October 1995 following an internal disciplinary hearing.
According to yesterday's charge sheet, Sole - whose age is given as "about"
51 - accepted bribes over a 10-year period, three of which were after his
dismissal.
The internal inquiry was conducted only after Sole was first suspended in
December 1994.
He was subsequently found guilty on several charges of misconduct after
"irregularities in the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority were
increasingly being connected to him", according to a source close to the
investigation.
Sole unsuccessfully applied to the courts to have the findings and his
dismissal set aside.
It was then that the development authority first turned to the courts and
brought a civil case against him for an amount of R9m - described as "an
income over and above his legitimate remuneration". The R12m involved in
the alleged bribery case is "a separate issue".
Sole opposed the civil action and, according to documents in the possession
of Business Day, "showed an extreme reluctance to allow his employer
access to his bank accounts".
He also denied "under oath" that he had any bank accounts outside Lesotho.
However, the development authority eventually succeeded in gaining access
to his bank accounts in Maseru, which allegedly led to the discovery of
accounts in SA and Switzerland.
Judgment in the four-year-old civil case is pending.
"In the course of the review of his bank accounts, certain payments were
identified which raised serious questions about his activities while he
was CEO," one source said.
"These transactions, when followed back to their source in Switzerland and
France, pointed to direct payments from the contractors concerned," he
said.
The criminal charges, he said, had less to do with the award of contracts
than with Sole using his position to take decisions on his own on, some of
them involving valuable contracts.
According to one of the charges, Sole undertook an unauthorised visit to
Paris in June-July 1991 where he allegedly discussed details of various
claims with some of the companies.
On his return to Maseru, according to the charge sheet, Sole fraudulently
submitted an expenses claim for attending an "international conference on
large dams" in Vienna, Austria, on behalf of the authority
---------------------------------
Business DAy 29 July 1999
Official faces charges over R12m bribes
International companies named in case against former boss of Lesotho
Highlands Water Project
David Greybe
CAPE TOWN - The Lesotho government yesterday charged its former top
official at the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Masupha Sole, with taking
R12m in bribes from a dozen international companies over 10 years.
The case has taken two years of extensive investigation to put together,
and involved close co-operation between the governments of Lesotho and SA,
with the assistance of Swiss and French authorities.
Companies allegedly involved include Impregilio of Italy, Dumez
International of France, Acres International of Canada, Swedish-Swiss ABB
and the Highlands Water Venture consortium, which includes Germany's
Hochtief and SA's Concor and Group Five.
In SA the water affairs and forestry department, through its
representatives on the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission, has been
closely involved in the investigation from the outset.
The R10bn international project to bring water to Gauteng from Lesotho is
managed by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority and overseen by the
governments of Lesotho and SA.
Sole, seconded from the Lesotho government as CEO of the authority,
appeared in the Maseru Magistrate's Court yesterday on 14 charges of
bribery and fraud. Sole also faces a charge of perjury: the charge sheet
states that Sole denied "under oath" in November 1996 in the Lesotho High
Court in a civil case that he had bank accounts in SA or overseas.
However, according to Lesotho's director of public prosecution, Sole "well
knew" that he had bank accounts in both SA and overseas - in Geneva and
Zurich.
Sole, who is out on R200000 bail, was not asked to plead and the case was
postponed to August 31. He has also had to surrender his passport.
Sole, the charge sheet states, "did unlawfully, intentionally and corruptly
accept bribe moneys, over the period February 1988 to December 1998, from
Lesotho Highlands Water Project contractors".
The 12 groups named, plus the alleged bribe amounts paid to Sole, are:
Impregilio (Italy) - $250000; Spie Batignoles (French) - Ff 738630;
Sogreah (French) - Ff 84000; LHPC Chantiers (international consortium) -
R392967; ED Zueblin (German) - DM 819862; LHPC (international consortium)
- DM 105639; Highlands Water Venture (international consortium including
SA's Concor and Group Five) - $733404; Diwi Consulting (Germany) - DM
4500; ABB (Swedish/Swiss) - Ff 250000; Lahmeyer Consulting Engineers
(German) - DM 16000; Acres International (Canadian) - C$ 279539, and;
Dumez International (French) - Ff 509905,62.
In SA currency the total allegedly paid in bribes to Sole was R12,012m.
In a joint statement yesterday, the Lesotho and SA authorities responsible
for the Highlands project welcomed the move "to press criminal charges
against Sole".
A source closely involved in the inquiry said: "While bribery on huge
projects is not unusual, it is the alleged involvement in this case of
leading European and North American companies which makes it so
troubling."
The source said the charges against Sole "related mainly to his abuse of
his position of trust to demand bribes to ensure favourable contract
decisions". For instance, Sole allegedly abused the claims procedure,
demanding bribes to take decisions in favour of contractors involved in
projects worth hundreds of millions of rands.
"Because the claims are often very technical and very complicated there is
tremendous scope for manipulation," the source said. "Sole, as CEO, was
very well placed to influence the outcome of such claims."
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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