Investor investigated over Beira/Harare pipeline deal

A South African investor in a $906 000 pipeline deal seeking to connect Mozambique to Zimbabwe from Beira to Harare along the Feruka corridor has been flagged over a 2016 corruption allegation in Ghana. News24 reports that US investigative and policy organisation The Sentry claims Errol Gregor from Coven Energy, who is involved in the pipeline project with the state-run National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe, was implicated in a R48.4m fraud scandal in Accra from 2016 to 2019. At the time, Gregor led the South African firm Mining Oil and Gas Services which is 51% owned by the Royal Bafokeng Holdings and 49% by the Public Investment Corporation. According to The Sentry, Gregor facilitated payments amounting to $18.3m from MOGS to Africore in three payments, a company owned by Ghanaian deal broker Edwin Obiri. Obiri would then pay politicians and other key persons who would help MOGS in its attempt to ‘win control of a valuable offshore oil platform near Accra’. Obiri claimed to have ‘funnelled the cash – at the request of Gregor and the political appointee who awarded the contract – to a range of unrelated third parties’. Hawks spokesperson Thandi Mbambo confirmed to the media in Zimbabwe they were tasked with investigating the allegations. ‘The matter concerning the enquiry regarding Mining Oil and Gas Services executive (Errol Gregor) was investigated by the Hawks' serious corruption investigation.

Full News24 report