When Gupta family associates told a Bombardier executive they could hand the Canadian train and plane maker Transnet’s contract for 1,064 locomotives if they got a 20% cut, he asked how they thought this "commission" could be accounted for. "You can sell us a $60m jet for $5m and claim it was second hand," former Trillian owner Salim Essa and his business partner and Transnet board member Iqbal Sharma reportedly told Bombardier vice-president Chris Antonopoulos. This is one of many revelations in a new report on the Transnet locomotive scandal by investigative journalism team amaBhungane. Although Bombardier lost the huge Transnet contract to China South Rail (CSR) — which leaked e-mails showed paid the Gupta family R5.3bn in kickbacks to clinch the deal — it did sell a discounted plane to the brothers. In its report on Friday, amaBhungane went through an Excel spreadsheet found in the trove of leaked Gupta e-mails detailing how the Guptas laundered the R5.3bn bribe received from CS...
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