Ayob repeats tax-evasion allegation against Mandela

Ayob apparently also dragged President Thabo Mbeki’s name into the fray, claiming that Mbeki had twice tried to intervene to stop Mandela from launching the legal action against him. Ayob’s statement appeared to be in defiance of a truce brokered between him and Mandela’s attorneys in an out-of-court agreement. In terms of the settlement, Ayob agreed to repay R790 000 to the Nelson Mandela Trust and also offered an apology to Mandela for making defamatory statements about him. However, on Friday, Ayob reiterated his claims that Mandela did not pay tax from the proceeds of his books sold abroad, saying this had been confirmed by auditing firm Deloitte and had also been raised during a trustees’ meeting in 2003. Full Sunday Times report

In a report in The Weekender Ayob claimed he gave a full account of the R2.2m that he took from the Mandela trust. He said he paid R700 000 into eight trusts for the children and grandchildren of Mandela and this money was paid for their essential needs. Ayob said R90 000 was paid to his management company to attend to the accounting and management of the trust for four years. He said R837 000 was paid to the SARS for income tax owing and payable by the trust. Ayob said Mandela’s lawyers, George Bizos and Wim Trengove, acting as trustees, required no further accounting to be done. ‘Bizos and Trengove have refused to ratify these payments and have demanded I repay the money back to the trust from my own funds,’ he said. He said he had instructed his counsel to settle the matter as he did not have limitless resources to litigate the matter. Full report in The Weekender