Vincent Smith says R615k from Bosasa was ‘loan from Agrizzi’

Former African National Congress (ANC) MP Vincent Smith has denied receiving a bribe from Bosasa.

Smith told the commission of inquiry into state capture on Friday that R615 000 deposited into his business account by the company, now known as African Global Operations, was a personal loan from former COO Angelo Agrizzi.

In 2019, Agrizzi told the commission Smith was one of the MPs who received benefits while he was still the chairperson of Parliament’s correctional services committee.

Agrizzi said the money was paid to these individuals by the late CEO Gavin Watson to ensure that Bosasa continued to win fraudulent tenders from the Department of Correctional Services.

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"Chair, one of the payments was a cash payment and the second payment was from a lawyer’s trust account, not one of them had a reflect of Bosasa. So there was no way that, even if it came from Bosasa, that I would have known that it came from the company," Smith said on Friday.

Evidence leader, Advocate Viwe Notshe, asked Smith how R263 000 was paid cash into his account by Agrizzi without raising any alarm bells.

Smith said at the time he did not have any concerns, but in hindsight he should have been worried.

He also admitted to having a close friendship with Watson, stating that he would call him and ask for him to deliver T-shirts for ANC events.

Smith admitted that Watson also thrice rented a car for his daughter in 2016.