News24 | South African investor flagged for alleged bribery in Ghana - report

The Hawks are investigating an investor over a 2016 corruption allegation in Ghana. (Hawks/Supplied)

• The Sentry claims Mining Oil and Gas Services paid a middleman to bribe politicians in Ghana to control a valuable offshore oil platform near Accra.
• The Hawks are investigating alleged corrupt financial transactions from South Africa to Ghana.
• The central figure, Errol Gregor, is now working on a Beira to Harare pipeline deal.

A South African investor in a R16 million pipeline deal seeking to connect Mozambique to Zimbabwe from Beira to Harare along the Feruka corridor has been flagged over a 2016 corruption allegation in Ghana.

American investigative and policy organisation The Sentry claimed this week in a report Errol Gregor from Coven Energy, who is involved in the pipeline project with the state-run National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe, was implicated in a R855 million fraud scandal in Accra from 2016 to 2019.

At the time, Gregor led the South African firm Mining Oil and Gas Services (MOGS) which is 51% owned by the Royal Bafokeng Holdings and 49% by the Public Investment Corporation. 

According to The Sentry, Gregor facilitated payments amounting to R324 million from MOGS to Africore in three payments, a company owned by Ghanaian deal broker Edwin Obiri.

Obiri would then pay politicians and other key persons who would help MOGS in its attempt to "win control of a valuable offshore oil platform near Accra".

Obiri was interviewed by The Sentry and claimed to have "funnelled the cash - at the request of Gregor and the political appointee who awarded the contract - to a range of unrelated third parties."

Obiri confirmed to News24 he spoke to The Sentry and added he had cooperated with the police through the Hawks which is now probing the suspicious transactions to Ghana.

Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo confirmed to the media in Zimbabwe they were tasked with investigating the allegations.

"The matter concerning the enquiry regarding Mining Oil and Gas Services executive [Errol Gregor] was investigated by the Hawks' serious corruption investigation.

"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 said. 

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The senior investigator at The Sentry, Nick Donovan, said there could be a case to answer because South African pensioners and British banks might have inadvertently fuelled the money machine.

"This case highlights the need for more transparency, rigorous oversight, and active international anti-corruption efforts when it comes to infrastructure development involving countries plagued by predatory business operators and entrenched kleptocracy.

"The fact that a UK bank and South African pension funds may have inadvertently supported a possible multimillion-dollar bribery scheme heightens the urgency. 

"This should be a wake-up call for more aggressive due diligence and, where appropriate, hard-hitting accountability," he said in a statement after the report was released.

Gregor left RBH to form Coven Energy in 2020 which is reported to be working with people close to Zimbabwe's president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, in the new pipeline deal.

The Sentry said because of the corruption allegations in Ghana, Gregor's Zimbabwean deal raised a lot of questions.

Hence, the Zimbabwean and Mozambican governments should exercise due diligence.

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