Ajay Gupta allegedly threatened to kill Mcebisi Jonas if he ever disclosed the offer to make him finance minister and pay him a R600m. Jonas did it anyway — first in a public statement and then to former public protector Thuli Madonsela. On Friday, Jonas will take the oath before deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo as the second witness at the state-capture commission of inquiry. He will for the first time publicly provide a full account of that fateful meeting in October 2015, including how Gupta allegedly threatened him after he declined the bribe offer. For almost three years, Jonas’s life has been on hold. On October 23 2015, the then deputy finance minister went to the Hyatt Hotel in Rosebank expecting a meeting with Duduzane Zuma. Zuma took Jonas to the Guptas’ Saxonwold compound. Businessman Fana Hlongwane also arrived. Jonas will tell Zondo about his encounter with a Gupta brother, whom he believes was Ajay, and the astonishing conversation that ensued that would change the c...
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