The report Mbeki and Zuma hid from you

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Mpumelelo Mkhabela

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has been named by a government-appointed commission as being “privy to material information” relating to controversial businessman Sandile Majali’s shady oil deals with the former Iraqi regime.

Majali — a well-known ANC funder who was also at the centre of the Oilgate scandal in 2004 — carried out deals with Iraq in a manner that contravened United Nations-imposed sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

In all, Saddam’s regime scored about 1.8-billion from surcharges and kickbacks under the UN’ s oil-for-food programme.

Motlanthe is named in a report compiled by the Donen Commission, which was set up by former president Thabo Mbeki. It was asked to probe the involvement of South African companies and individuals in the violation of the UN sanctions on Iraq.

Despite promising to make the commission’s report public, Mbeki kept it under wraps after it was handed to him in late 2006.

The Times - Exclusive : The report Mbeki and Zuma hid from you