South African police recommended the prosecution of Errol Gregor, a South African national with business interests in Zimbabwe, after he was accused of bribery in Ghana about five years ago, the Zimbabwe Independent can reveal.
Gregor’s Ghanaian partner, Edwin Obiri, said in an interview with the Independent last week that no crime had been committed in South Africa related to the Ghana case .
Gregor’s firm, Covern Energy, has expressed interests in developing Zimbabwe’s second fuel pipeline, which will run from Mozambique to Harare along the Beira – Feruka corridor. The project will be implemented in partnership with the state run National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe (Noic).
If approved, it is expected to cost about US$850 million.
But in an investigation released last week, The Sentry, an American Investigative unit, quiried if Gregor was the right partner for Noic in Zimbabwe, after the allegations levelled against him in Ghana.
“Gregor’s alleged role in authorising these suspicious payments in Ghana raises the question as to whether he is the right person to lead a critical infrastructure project in Zimbabwe,” The Sentry said.
The Independent was told this week the South African Police Service (SAPS)'s recommendations, which were made through its crack unit called the Hawks, exclusively related to the Ghana allegations.
The Sentry claimed Gregor, who in 2019 was an executive at South Africa’s Mining Oil and Gas Services (Mogs) made queried payments worth US$445 million to Obiri to gain control of a lucrative offshore oil asset in Ghana.
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The payments by Mogs, which were later unearthed by auditors, were paid to Africore, the firm that is controlled by Obiri, according to The Sentry.
It claimed after the auditors’ revelations, Gregor was reported to SAPS together with Obiri.
Obiri denied being charged for bribery in an interview with the Independent last week. Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo said the matter was handled by the Hawks’ serious corruption branch.
“The matter concerning the enquiry regarding Mining Oil and Gas Services executive (Errol Gregor) was investigated by the Hawks’ serious corruption investigation,” Mbambo told the Independent.
“The Hawks investigates and gathers all evidence (and) thereafter refers the docket to National Prosecuting Authority for decisions on whether to prosecute or not,” she added.
“Mogs and my company submitted a joint bid for a tender, which included two other companies and we bid the highest as well as being technically competent and through a rigorous process we were determined to be the winners of that tender process,” he told the Independent last week.
“That process also had full board oversight and was not the decision of any one individual.
"From a common-sense perspective, it does not make sense to influence a process and then pay significantly higher than the second bidder. I am sure you appreciate that. Mogs and Africore are private companies. I am not sure what laws in South Africa would have been violated in the process.”
This week, Obiri said there were inaccuracies in The Sentry’s report, but confirmed that SAPS probed the transaction.
“There are several material inaccuracies, especially relating to the negative slant and references to me in my personal capacity when this was a transaction between two private entities,” he said.
“Both Africore and Mogs International submitted a joint submission for participation in GPMS and upon a rigorous evaluation process mandated by the board of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), which was 100% shareholder of GPMS at the time, our join entity Mogs Mauritius Limited was determined the eventual winner with a bid that was in the region of US$85 million funded by debt and loans.
"None of the shareholders (Mogs 70% and Africore 30%) contributed any equity besides the nominal amounts for shares and it is incorrect and misleading to suggest that Africore was somehow gifted shares in some underhanded way. As part of the ongoing relationship between Mogs and Africore and subject to Mogs internal processes including full board approval over a period between 2016 and 2019 payments were made to Africore.”
“Over the years I have initiated disclosures with all relevant stakeholders including the banks and financiers, Ghana government, TOR and the South African police when Mogs’ shareholder PIC (Public Investment Corporation) was considering a criminal investigation against Mogs for transactions including the GPMS transaction which did not result in any charges being brought,” he added.
