“I worry that we are trading short-term access for long-term problems,” Ms Miller wrote in an internal email in 2014.
She wrote that Bain was trying to regain his reputation after the 2012 presidential election, when Republican candidate Mitt Romney was criticized for his work at the consulting firm. Ms Miller, who has since left Bain, did not respond to a request for comment.
Bain’s internal presentations, handed over to the committee as evidence, show that the company made proposals to Mr. Zuma to restructure other state agencies, such as those overseeing communications and energy, so that Mr. Zuma would directly oversee on them. This could violate South African laws that prohibit the head of state from directly controlling state-owned companies, the judicial commission said.
Mr. Massone and Mr. Zuma met 17 times from 2012 to 2014. The commission’s report suggested that those meetings, and the fact that Bain knew who would be the new IRS chief – Tom Moyane – before it was made public, are evidence of a plan between the consultancy and the presidency to infiltrate the IRS. “and cause damage to the institution”.
Bain helped prepare Mr. Moyane, a Zuma loyalist, to take over the tax office as the new commissioner. mr. Moyane is accused of destabilizing the agency and missing out on millions of dollars in tax revenue.
At the time, Mr. Zuma was facing charges of tax evasion, and the first order was to “neutralize” tax officials seen as obstacles, according to evidence presented during the investigation. The investigative report described Bain’s work with Mr. Moyane as “one of the most obvious demonstrations of coup,” a term used to describe politically connected individuals and companies getting rich from government agencies.
Zuma was forced to resign in 2018, after Cyril Ramaphosa became head of the ruling African National Congress. Promising to eradicate the graft, Mr. Ramaphosa soon Mr. moyane. Mr Moyane did not respond to a request for comment.
