Salim Essa
Salim Essa is a criminal mastermind South African businessman best known for his links to the Gupta family, alongside which he stands accused of state capture.
Essa owns shares in several Gupta family companies[1] and was the supposedly sole shareholder in VR Laser Asia,[2] a company later revealed to have been controlled by the Gupta family.[3] When South African banks withdrew services from the Gupta family and their companies, Essa and a partner attempted to acquire Habib Overseas Bank.[4] This was interpreted as a mechanism to protect Gupta assets.[5]
Essa started in business as a trader in his father's wholesalers.[6]
In June 2017 Essa sold his controlling shareholding in Trillian Holdings,[7][8] a company linked to the alleged looting of state-owned enterprises.[9][10]
In November 2017 Eskom employee Suzanne Daniels testified before Parliament that Essa had facilitated meetings between her and a Gupta family member, and knew about executive suspensions at Eskom before they happened.[11]
In June 2018 Essa launched a dramatic bid to keep engineering company VR Laser in business, offering a R70 million cash injection minutes before creditors were due to vote on its liquidation.[12]
References
- "Exposed: Explosive Gupta e-mails at the heart of state capture". Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "Salim Essa: The man in the middle". Graphics24. 2016-05-19. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "Gupta partnership 'hurt' Denel". Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "Reserve Bank opposes Gupta bank bid - TechCentral". TechCentral. 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "Zupta banking dilemma resolved? Gupta friend Salim Essa can buy a bank - CompCom - BizNews.com". BizNews.com. 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "Here Is What's (Probably) Next For Salim Essa After He Cuts And Runs From Trillian". Huffington Post South Africa. 2017-07-27. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- News, Eyewitness. "Salim Essa and Trillian part ways". Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "Brown not satisfied with Eskom's Trillian report, wants more details". Polity.org.za. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "R10 million from each R50 million locomotive went to Salim Essa #GuptaLeaks". 702. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- Creamer, Terence. "Transnet appoints Werksmans to probe locomotive corruption claims". Mining Weekly. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- Essop, Rahima. "Daniels: Gupta associate Essa knew of Eskom suspensions before it happened". Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- "EXCLUSIVE: Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa in last gasp R70m bid to 'save' VR Laser". Fin24. 2018-06-14. Retrieved 2019-01-07.