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Bosasa boss Gavin Watson allegedly offered R50 million in start-up capital to his former right-hand man, Angelo Agrizzi, to “buy his silence”.
This offer came three days after Agrizzi threatened to go public with details of alleged corruption that took place during his 18 years at the company.
City Press has obtained copies of emails and text messages that detail the dealings Agrizzi had with Watson.
The boss of Bosasa, now called African Global Group, allegedly tried to convince Agrizzi to change his mind at a meeting on August 25 last year which was also attended by Watson’s brothers Ronnie and Valence, daughter Lindsay, son Roth and nephew Jarrod.
Three days earlier, Agrizzi made it known that he was about to spill the beans. In an email sent on August 21 to journalists, and copied to Valence and Bosasa lawyer Brian Biebuyck, Agrizzi informed them that he would reveal all about the “corruption” at the Bosasa group of companies.
“I have tried to not report on the activities to potentially save the jobs of the people concerned. It is, however, in my best interest to disclose the matters,” he said, adding that the “most appropriate platform” would be making his disclosures to “the judiciary and the free press, which I will be using”.
In the email, Agrizzi admits to being “fully aware” of the “racketeering, corruption and money laundering” that allegedly took place there over the “last 18 years”.
After getting wind of his plans, Watson bombarded Agrizzi with apparently desperate calls and texts.
“Why don’t you want to meet me? Why don’t you want to take my calls?” reads one text message.
Agrizzi responded: “You have your team and [I] don’t want to get involved with the type of people you are now associated with. It’s far too dirty – and not what Christ would want me to associate with. That’s it.”
Watson responds by saying he was “not involved with anybody” and begs him to reconsider.
“What’s it going to solve destroying your family and my family and 5 000 other families?” he writes.
“Who is creating the problem, tell me. Who is trying to divide the two of us?”
Three days after his email, Agrizzi then received a draft settlement from Biebuyck which he claims was an attempt to buy his silence for R50 million, and which he had to sign by the following morning.
According to the draft agreement, a new company called Newco would be registered within two months, of which he would be executive chairperson and “responsible for the entrepreneurial development and management of the business”.
It further states that Watson would pay R10 million to the new company on its registration, and further payments of up to R10 million a year for the next five years.
The agreement further states that Watson would pay “R5 million into the trust account of Angelo’s attorney within 48 hours” of Agrizzi signing the deal “as a matter of good faith”.
However, the conditions also included that Agrizzi withdraw his earlier statement to journalists, and the contract barred him from damaging Bosasa’s reputation.
Agrizzi wrote an email to Watson, Biebuyck and the family after their meeting on August 25, declining the offer.
In the email, Agrizzi begins by saying it was “wonderful to see you all again”.
But the tone soon degenerates, with Agrizzi accusing the Watsons of bad faith by presenting him with an unenforceable agreement, which they never intended to comply with, in exchange for his withdrawal of his earlier email to journalists.
He also accuses the Bosasa boss of having “reneged on no less than four other contracts”, and cites Watson’s age, saying he was 70 years old and had “moved all assets into various trusts”, rendering the deal unenforceable.
“It was also quite disappointing that in order to calm the storm, everyone contemplated their own resolve at my expense once more, and therefore I have no option but to refuse the attempt to purchase my silence,” Agrizzi wrote.
“I once more would like to reiterate that I find it even more despicable that you would insult my intelligence. Take care and God bless.”
Just over an hour after that email was sent, an apparently shocked Biebuyck responded: “I have no idea what has caused this change of attitude ... I have just spoken to Gavin, who is in Port Elizabeth, but who is happy to fly up tomorrow to sign the agreement in its current format.”
Later that night, at 9.22pm, Watson’s nephew Valence, who was named after his father (Watson’s brother), sent a text message to Agrizzi, begging him to sign the deal.
In the message, a copy of which City Press has obtained, Valence writes of his uncle: “He always refuses to be accountable to us and keeps us in the dark on his business in spite of [the fact that] whatever happens to him affects all of us.
“I am also pretty sure that he always ridicules me behind my back, that I am [a] little nephew who he just indulges and takes pity on because I possibly amuse him the same way a pet dog would.
“I just desperately want all this nonsense to end because we are working in a business which sells properties to the public. It is the only business we have and it’s been difficult enough getting rid of the negative perception,” he writes.
“It’s not glamorous and I am working my guts out trying to do honest work to build a future for our kids in an economic climate which is already difficult. Please, Angelo.”
Biebuyck declined to comment about the contract this week.
“Given the ongoing proceedings before the state capture commission, it is inappropriate for me to comment on issues pertaining to Bosasa or its directors and employees,” he said.
“The document in question records a proposed settlement agreement between Mr Watson and Mr Agrizzi, following months of disputes between them throughout the course of 2018.”
Biebuyck said that Agrizzi was, at the time, trying to take over Bosasa from Watson and that the contract was a response to a proposal Agrizzi “put forward following these discussions”.
“The proposed settlement agreement, which was not concluded, contains no provisions in relation to ‘hush money’ as has been suggested ... but rather seeks to achieve a lasting resolution of differences between two individuals who had been at loggerheads for months.”
Agrizzi declined to comment, saying he trusted the police and commission to deal with the matter.
However, a source close to him confirmed the discussion and the emails. “Agrizzi has told me about several attempts by the Watsons and Bosasa/African Global Group between 2016 and 2018 to lure him back to the company. They offered him enormous amounts of money that ran into many millions.”
Bosasa spokesperson Papa Leshabane said: “We would like to put it on record that the document you refer to does not come from African Global Group nor Mr Watson. Therefore, we are unable to confirm its veracity as we do not have any knowledge of it.”
Agrizzi, who has implicated politicians, prosecutors and state bureaucrats, will resume his testimony at the commission tomorrow.
