‘I was reckless’: Conradie regrets 2012 meeting that sparked Anti-Corruption Act trial

Veteran lawyer Dirk Conradie has come to regret the meeting that led to his arrest in June 2012 and subsequent prosecution on charges under the Anti-Corruption Act.

“I would say, in hindsight I should not have had that meeting,” Conradie said while testifying in his trial in the Windhoek High Court last week.

However, his aim with the meeting he had with his co-accused in the trial before judge Thomas Masuku, Sara Damases, and two directors of the advertising company DV8 Saatchi & Saatchi was to advance black economic empowerment, he said.

The purpose of the meeting was not to assist the advertising company, which was a shortlisted bidder in an advertising tender of cellphone company Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), but to hear from the two directors what difficulties they had with black economic empowerment (BEE), he said.

Conradie (66) gave this evidence while testifying in his own defence in a trial that started before Masuku in March 2016, when he and Damases both denied guilt on all of the charges on which they are being prosecuted.

Conradie was the chairperson of MTC’s board of directors when the meeting between him, Damases and DV8 Saatchi & Saatchi directors Mark Bongers and Kim Field took place at his law firm’s offices in June 2012.

The meeting took place a week before the MTC board was to discuss an advertising tender worth N$60 million, in which DV8 Saatchi & Saatchi was one of the shortlisted bidders.

The state is alleging that during the meeting with Damases, Bongers and Field, Conradie offered to use his influence as MTC board chairperson to have the advertising tender awarded to DV8 Saatchi & Saatchi, if the company’s directors agreed to take Damases on board as a BEE partner.

Conradie and Damases are jointly charged with one count of corruptly soliciting gratification as a reward for using influence in procuring a contract, and a charge of attempting or conspiring to contravene sections of the Anti-Corruption Act.

Conradie alone is also charged with corruptly using his former position as MTC’s board of directors to obtain gratification for himself or another person.

In his testimony, Conradie at first said the meeting took place after he had received a phone call from Damases, who told him Bongers wanted a meeting with him to discuss his company’s BEE credentials.

However, when reminded of the instructions that his defence counsel, senior counsel Vas Soni, previously put to state witnesses, Conradie changed his version and agreed that he sent Damases to Bongers to ask him for a meeting.

Conradie denied that he shared information from material provided to him in preparation for the MTC board meeting with Damases.

He also denied that he conspired with her in an attempt to get a stake in DV8 for her.

He sent Damases to talk to Bongers about the possibility of her getting a job with the advertising company, Conradie said.

He denied that during the meeting with Bongers and Field he suggested to them that they should take Damases on as a BEE partner in their company, which he said had no BEE credentials.

Conradie further denied he made an offer that if DV8 Saatchi & Saatchi managed to meet BEE requirements the MTC advertising tender would be awarded to it.

He did, however, suggest to Bongers and Field that Damases might be able to help them address the lack of BEE in their company, Conradie said.

With the benefit of hindsight, though, he should not have had the meeting with Bongers and Field while the MTC board still had to make a decision on the advertising tender, he said as well.

“I think I was reckless by going into that meeting,” he said.

Conradie is due to continue with his testimony from 14 June.

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