Spy tapes mole linked to Pentagon project

While Andre Pienaar, founder of C5 Capital and exposed as the mysterious ‘Luciano’ in the leaked ‘Zuma spy tapes’ saga, is involved in a bid for the Jedi Pentagon Project – a cyber-cloud that will store highly sensitive data including US nuclear codes – he has also been linked to Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, who has close links to the Kremlin. The former intelligence agent has been cited in an extensive investigation by BBC journalists into bids for the Pentagon’s multi-m i l l i o n dollar Jedi Contract project aimed at storing sensitive military and other information on a single cloud. A Daily Maverick report notes that Pienaar was exposed in court transcripts in the Zuma matter as the mysterious ‘Luciano’ who allegedly leaked illegal National Intelligence Agency recordings of conversations between then Scorpions boss, Leonard McCarthy, and former NPA boss, Bulelani Ngcuka. The leak ultimately led to the initial withdrawal of charges of fraud and corruption against former President Jacob Zuma. The BBC’s Ruth Clegg and Manveen Rana have linked Pienaar to Vekselberg, a Kremlin insider, who is named on the US sanctions list for his close ties to President Vladimir Putin. The report notes that Pienaar’s flagship company C5 Capital, boasts as ‘strategic partners’ Charles McGarry, former CIA Operations Officer and CIA European chief; Admiral Mike Mullen, principal advisor to Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, and Lieutenant General Graham Lamb, a former member of the UK regular and special forces.

Full Daily Maverick report