NPA declines to prosecute Trillian’s Eric Wood

The National Prosecuting Authority has confirmed that it has declined to prosecute Eric Wood over payments to the Gupta-owned The New Age newspaper in 2015 on the grounds that it considered the matter to be “a civil case”.

The money laundering case against Wood was opened by his former business partners at Regiments Capital in November 2016 following revelations of an alleged kick-back scandal involving a company that had been subcontracted for a CCTV deal at Transnet.

His then partners, Litha Nyhonyha and Niven Pillay, in court papers, accused Wood of abusing his senior position at Regiments to channel payments through the company’s bank accounts that ultimately landed up with the Guptas.

They claimed that emails and documents unearthed after Wood had left Regiments showed how he allegedly had three fake invoices concocted to falsely create the impression that Regiments had rendered services to Technology & Procurement Holdings (TechPro) at Transnet.

This allowed for Techpro to pay a total of R15-million plus Vat to Regiments.

Once the cash was with Regiments, a Gupta lieutenant, Ashok Narayan forwarded invoices for matching amounts to Wood at Regiments to allow for the money to be paid to the ultimate recipient, The New Age, then owned by the Guptas.

Wood, during those legal proceedings denied the money laundering allegations, saying they were “false and defamatory” and provided his own account for why the payments were made. His version included the fact that Narayan was a known consultant to Regiments at the time and that work had been done for Techpro through an agreement belatedly signed in June 2015 whereas the work had actually commenced after January of that year.

Read amaBhungane’s expose here

While the NPA’s decision not to prosecute may raise eyebrows in some quarters, Wood was unaware of this when contacted by Daily Maverick.

In a written response to questions, Trillian said that “Mr Wood reiterates that this case is without merit and was simply brought as a device by Regiments in an attempt to enhance Regiments’ position against him in ongoing civil disputes”.

Trillian Response