'Significant changes were made to Estina feasibility study report I drafted' — state witness in Nulane trial

A state witness in the R24.9m Nulane Investments fraud and corruption case has testified that “significant changes” were made to a feasibility study he compiled.

Charles Church, a former employee of Deloitte Consulting who is testifying virtually from Lagos, Nigeria, drafted the feasibility study that gave rise to the R280m Estina dairy farm project.

Church told the court of “significant changes” to projections he made on the project, with capital expenditure, turnover and net profit doubled, compared to the report he compiled for Nulane.

He said the fixed capital was revised from R250m to R500m, turnover doubled from R40m to R80m while net profit was changed from R8m to R16m.

Employment opportunities went from 400 to 600 in the documents that ended up with the Free State department of rural development.

Church also testified that another significant change was to recommendations in the feasibility study, including one about a site visit to Paras, a company in India, and the agreement reached in relation to them embarking on a dairy project in the Free State.

Paras was selected to partner the Free State government on the project, where money was allegedly siphoned off by companies linked to the Gupta family.

Deloitte Consulting was hired by Nulane Investments to conduct a feasibility study at a cost of R1.5m after Nulane won a R24.9m tender.

Church is being cross-examined by defence lawyers.

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