26

Zizi

One notable problem with the IgoFiles was the fact that they mostly
contained bank records, emails and other documents relating to only
Igo Mpambani’s financial activities. The dealings of Edwin Sodi,
Mpambani’s partner in the Free State asbestos audit project, therefore
remained hidden from view. However, in an attempt to quell my
suspicions about Blackhead Consulting’s role in the saga, Sodi and his
lawyers invited me to inspect the company’s bank statements for the
period in which the Blackhead–Diamond Hill joint venture received
millions of rands from the Free State Department of Human
Settlements.
I accepted the invitation. If anything, the exercise further fuelled my
doubts over the contract. As mentioned in Chapter 22 , one version of
the ‘cost of business’ spreadsheet in the IgoFiles, along with a draft
email written by Mpambani, implicated Sodi in suspicious payments.
Sodi was to ‘take care’ of those payments highlighted in yellow, while
Mpambani would handle the rest of the amounts detailed in the
spreadsheet, according to the email.
Sodi did not deny that he had seen such a spreadsheet, but he seemed
to suggest that the version I obtained had been altered. ‘The
spreadsheet that was prepared does not bear the abbreviations and
names asked about,’ his lawyers said. They denied that Sodi or his
company had made any donations or payments to politically exposed
individuals or entities that could reasonably be viewed as ‘kickbacks’
or ‘bribes’ related to Blackhead’s government contracts.