Estina ‘had R16 in its bank account’ ahead of Vrede agreement
Updated | By Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile
The commission of inquiry into state capture has heard that Estina only had R16 in its bank account the day before the Free State Department of Agriculture deposited R30 million as an advance payment for the Vrede dairy farm project.

The former head of the department, Peter Thabethe, appeared before the commission on Tuesday.
Thabethe told the commission on Monday the lack of background checks on Estina was of no concern, as an Indian company called Paras Dairy Farm would be responsible for implementing the project.
According to the record of agreements given to the commission, Estina was supposed to be the local representative, as the government couldn’t do business with a foreign company.
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The agreement signed between Estina and the department indicated the company would pay R228 million in the second phase of the project as part of its investment.
Evidence leader Leah Gcabashe: "You were preparing to give Estina a large amount of money and giving them certain responsibilities. They said they had R228 million that they could put in the project, but had you looked at their bank account you might have had a different conversation with them.”
Gcabashe added that if Thabethe's office would have had no reason to check the bank account details if it did its due diligence.
Thabethe argued that the funds were supposed to have come from Paras Dairy.
The commission’s chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, was unimpressed.
"Can you see the risk that you put the department in, by not doing the risk assessment? In terms of this agreement, you are expecting Estina to pay more than R200 million into the project, but you don't even know whether they have a cent in their account? How can you expect that entity to give you R228 million? Where would they get it from? You were the accounting officer who looks after taxpayers monies, how do you do that?”
But Thabethe stuck to his guns, saying he was certain the money would come from Paras, even though the agreement said it would come from Estina.
Zondo pointed out that this type of agreement would leave the department exposed should something go wrong, as it would have limited legal recourse against Estina.
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