The information they contain is not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing and must be treated with caution. SA mining magnate Brian Menell is currently Kemet’s sole director. In the SARs, the bank also flags a company called Kemet Global Ltd, which it says “Ichikowitz had masked his ownership of”. The health and insurance units remain stalwarts for now, but analysts expect dramatic changes in future, On the other hand, used-vehicle sales are flying – but even here, stock availability is an issue, thanks to Covid lockdowns, The state ‘didn’t have the budget’ to probe Steinhoff’s fraud, so the retailer gave it R30m to do so — a direct conflict of interest. “The EDD3 confirmed that Zuma and Ichikowitz have a close relationship and the report states that Zuma … [has] been flying on Ichikowitz’s aircraft. Barclays, in its letter to the ICIJ, stresses that they instead “simply reflect a snapshot taken at a particular point in time of the information then available”. They say of Ichikowitz: “Neither he nor any of the companies under the Paramount Group have been subject to an investigation by any relevant authority whether in SA (where Paramount has a small presence in the context of its global operations) or elsewhere … Any statement to the contrary is without evidence … and liable to be defamatory.”. “Though he is not an owner officially by structure, Barclays Corporate believes that Kemet is related to his businesses, which explains why there are transfers relating to his mine deal; therefore, Kemet will be listed as a SAR suspect in this case.”. The city’s CBD was once home to a pack of glamorous hotels. Features. More than $8m was transferred from PLC to Socintra, which the bank identified as “a provider of finance and working capital to businesses located in SA”. In response to questions from the ICIJ, Barclays says in a two-page letter that it cannot legally comment on particular SARs, their contents, or the individuals and businesses named in them. Rigged tenders, cronyism and kickbacks for ... SA will get enough vaccines — but not before ... CHRIS ROPER: Why the outcry over Gqeberha. It makes armoured vehicles, naval ships, helicopters, and fighter jets. IVOR Ichikowitz is a man of Africa, inspired and enthused by the continent but most especially South Africa his birthplace. What the $25 billion the biggest US donors gave in 2020 says about high-dollar charity today On April 24 2015, the New York branch of Barclays bank filed a report to the US Treasury describing suspicious transactions in the accounts of one of its clients. I never hid it.”, In a response to detailed questions, UK lawyers representing Ichikowitz told amaBhungane he was not prepared to comment on “any allegation relating to confidential information that has been unlawfully obtained by the ICIJ…, “He notes only that the Paramount Group of companies act in accordance with the laws of their residence and international law, and so too does our client.”. It also features prominently in the FinCEN Files. The SAR reports that “the activity appears to be circular in nature” — a possible sign of financial malfeasance. Foundation chair Ivor Ichikowitz honored at 25 th anniversary of the Brazzaville Protocol. Paramount Group was founded in 1994 and has evolved over those 25 years of operation but Ichikowitz said: “We’re 25 years young. If you thought the Zuptas were in any way unique, you’re dead wrong. The lawyers do not address our questions, but instead pose a number of questions to us, mostly about how the data was obtained. Read more at the SA government's online coronavirus portal or use the 24-hour public hotline: 0800 029 999. Former Paramount employees have told amaBhungane that Ichikowitz enjoys permanent residence on the vessel — a “floating tax haven” that wanders the globe, offering ultra-luxury to those with the means. It would be the first in a string of reports Barclays produced on its client around questionable wire transfers. Ichikowitz told reporters at the time that there was nothing improper in his support for the ANC: “This was never conditional. South African mining magnate Brian Menell is currently Kemet’s sole director. Industrialist, venture capitalist, philanthropist — those are some of the titles people give to the founder and chairman of Africa’s largest privately owned arms company. Brian McKechnie and Jo Buitendach unearth the lost old ladies. Questions sent to Zuma, via his lawyer Eric Mabuza, and to ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe went unanswered, despite attempts to follow up. Get amaB on WhatsApp so that whenever we publish, you will be the first to know. But in September 2016, the bank widened its monitoring to include all of Ichikowitz’s outgoing wire transfers citing “concerns about his source of wealth”, and undertook a review of all past wire activity for Paramount. Zuma and several senior ministers flew the same luxury jet to New York for the 69th UN General Assembly in 2014 at a cost to the taxpayer of R3-million to R6-million, by one expert’s estimate. The Barclays reports are a fraction of a much larger trove of secret financial records obtained by BuzzFeed News and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a nonprofit news outlet and global network of investigative reporters of which amaBhungane is a partner. He has told the ICIJ that the company “was originally conceived as a joint investment vehicle between Mr Ichikowitz and me. Please read our Comment Policy before commenting. According to explanatory narratives attached to its SARs, which set out the motivation for Barclays’ apparent suspicions, the bank filed the April 2015 report “due to USD wire transfers involving Paramount … and its chief executive officer and beneficial owner, Ivor Ichikowitz”. A list of transactions accompanying the SARs shows that Socintra made at least two payments totalling about $260 746 to The World of ResidenSea II Ltd, part of the World group of companies that claims to own “the largest private residential ship on the planet”. More than $8-million was transferred from PLC to Socintra, which the bank identified as “a provider of finance and working capital to businesses located in South Africa”. In essence, SARs amount to untested allegations, akin to confidential informant tipoffs, albeit based on banks’ privileged access to their clients’ transactions. Orbis’s co-founder, former MI6 operative Christopher Steele, authored the famous dossier containing explosive allegations of co-operation between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 US presidential elections. Barclays, in its letter to the ICIJ, stressed that they instead “simply reflect a snapshot taken at a particular point in time of the information then available”. Ivor Ichikowitz recoils at the arms industry’s “reputation for being very cloak-and-dagger.” “We are not in the destroying-anything business,” the 53-year-old founder of South African arms company Paramount Group told CNBC a few years ago. According to the SARs, the Orbis report “strengthened” suspicions of corruption by revealing new links to the now infamous public relations firm Bell Pottinger, “which was allegedly introduced to Banda by Ichikowitz in order to assist Joyce Banda to improve her public profile”. Joyce Banda: President do not award contracts in Malawi. Payments between Socintra and Mamio were cause for suspicion because “no material information was found in the wire payments details as to the purpose of these wires”. At issue in that case are claims, stoutly denied by Paramount, that profits were hoarded offshore to the detriment of the South African operating company. © 2021 Arena Holdings. Business Live. Born in 1966, South Africa-born Ichikowitz founded Paramount Group in 1994 when he was still in his 20s. Though the bank dropped Kemet, no such action appears to have been taken against other Ichikowitz companies flagged in its SARs, at least up to late 2017, the period for which records are available. Ichikowitz’s association with Zuma and the ANC was nothing new. All rights reserved. It was also known that Ichikowitz had partnered with “Oilgate kingpin” Sandi Majali, who ran an alleged ANC front company involved in the oil-for-food programme with Iraq. Subsequent reporting pushed up that figure. The company features in a separate and ongoing amaBhungane investigation into the collapse of Paramount’s SA armoured vehicle business (see the FM of September 17-23 and next week, October 1-7). An EDD3 probes the background of an individual or company, typically through an in-country “boots on the ground” investigation rather than just desktop research. Zuma and several senior ministers flew the same luxury jet to New York for the 69th UN General Assembly in 2014 at a cost to the taxpayer of R3m-R6m, by one expert’s estimate. Under then president Joyce Banda, Paramount secured a $145-million (almost R2.5-billion now) contract to supply patrol boats destined to operate on Lake Malawi, as well as other military equipment. PLC is a hub through which many of Ichikowitz’s international transactions flow and, as our other reporting shows, it is the contracting party on many of the group’s defence deals. Socintra is also the owner of another Paramount company that bought assets out of the collapsed Paramount subsidiary in SA. He has told the ICIJ that the company “was originally conceived as a joint investment vehicle between Mr Ichikowitz and me. The Telegraph previously reported that Ichikowitz’s family foundation had paid the PR firm to help airbrush Banda’s image. Barclays eventually terminated its relationship with Kemet because it was not within its “risk appetite”. By Tanya Kozyreva, Michael Hudson, Spencer Woodman, Will Fitzgibbon, Agustin Armendariz, Golden Matonga, Delphine Reuter, Micah Reddy and Fergus Shiel, ICIJ, 23 September 2020 ICIJ — Ivor Ichikowitz recoils at the arms industry’s “reputation for being very cloak-and-dagger.” “We are not in the destroying-anything business,” the 53-year-old founder of South… The ICIJ documents show the bank continued filing reports on Paramount and Ichikowitz, over time broadening its reporting to include new individuals and entities in the web of Paramount-linked transfers. Though the SARs point to suspicious activities that bear the traits common to money laundering and other illicit financial activity, they are not evidence themselves of criminality. In financial parlance, “layering” refers to a series of transactions designed to conceal the source of money. Former Paramount employees have told amaBhungane that Ichikowitz enjoys permanent residence on the vessel — a “floating tax haven” that wanders the globe, offering ultra-luxury to those with the means. Payments between Socintra and Mamio were cause for suspicion because “no material information was found in the wire payments details as to the purpose of these wires”. The company features in a separate and ongoing amaBhungane investigation into the collapse of Paramount’s South African armoured vehicle business. Leaked US Treasury records offer a glimpse into the business empire of controversial Paramount founder Ivor Ichikowitz. I never hid it.”. According to the SARs, the Orbis report “strengthened” suspicions of corruption by revealing new links to the now infamous public relations firm Bell Pottinger, “which was allegedly introduced to Banda by Ichikowitz in order to assist Joyce Banda to improve her public profile”. It quoted his brother Eric as saying: “The family foundation believes that President Banda is a force for good in Malawi and that she is striving to improve the lives of all Malawians.”. The narratives say these transfers “appeared to be suspicious” due to concerns that “Ichikowitz may have been involved in a potential bribery and foreign corruption scheme involving South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma”; because Zuma was “identified in numerous negative news articles [as] previously being indicted on money laundering and corruption charges”; and because South Africa was “a high-risk geography for bribery and corruption”.
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