Johannesburg — Top brass flew to Baghdad with publicity-shy empowerment businessman TWO of the ANC's most powerful officials travelled to Iraq with a controversial Johannesburg businessman just weeks before he landed a R1.2-billion state oil deal.

Sandi Majali is one of about 270 people around the world who have been named in an alleged sanctions-busting scam involving oil from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime.

The names appeared in Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organisation documents found after the fall of Saddam.

Majali, 41, who heads the media-shy empowerment company Imvume Resources, has for the past two weeks been reluctant to talk about his business dealings.

Barry Aaron, an attorney acting for Imvume and Majali, said his clients were precluded by a pending lawsuit from responding to questions.

The Sunday Times has established that Majali had close ties with former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and senior members of the ANC.

Majali accompanied ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and the party's treasurer-general, Mendi Msimang, to the Middle East from November 9 to 17 2001. Just two weeks later, on December 1, the Iraqi government allocated Majali's company two million barrels of oil.

On December 5 2001, South Africa's Strategic Fuel Fund put out a R1.2-billion tender for four million barrels of Basrah Light oil. Majali's company snatched the deal.

The Sunday Times has uncovered several overseas trips on which Majali accompanied Motlanthe and Msimang. Imvume also paid a R40 000 bill in July 2002 for the ANC to host a dinner in Johannesburg for Aziz, who was in South Africa as a special guest of Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

Msimang said this week that the ANC had not helped Majali broker the oil deal and said there was "no special relationship" between them.

Msimang also said that Majali, "like all those who have the interests of the country at heart", had made "contributions" to the ANC, although Motlanthe denied any knowledge of any such contributions.

The Sunday Times has established that Imvume is owned by "charitable" trusts and unnamed businessmen.

One of the owners is the Research and Security Development Trust, founded in June 2001 with a symbolic donation of R1 000 from Daniel Lengosane - now a director of Internal Security in the President's Office.

Lengosane, in India this week, was unavailable for comment. Presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo said yesterday that Lengosane had not broken any "rules or regulations".

In 2002 Imvume won, in a closed tender, a R750-million deal to supply PetroSA's Mossgas with feedstock.

Majali was drawn into controversy in 2001 when a Swiss company, Glencor International, was ordered to pay the United Nations $3-million for violating sanctions on Iraq. Glencor's South African partner at the time was Montega Trading, headed by Majali.

Throughout these controversial dealings Majali has enjoyed close ties with Motlanthe and Msimang.

The Sunday Times can confirm today that the trio travelled to: Iraq via Dubai in July 2002 on flight EK764. They spent more than 10 days there; Iraq via Dubai on flight EK464 on November 9 2001. They spent 11 days there; and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo on flight RK731 on June 13 2001. They spent four days there. In addition, Motlanthe and Majali flew on January 10 2002 on flight D6403 to Congo-Brazzaville, where they spent 3 days. Majali and Motlanthe chartered a Learjet from Lanseria Airport on February 15 2003 to Angola, where they spent two days.

Motlanthe this week confirmed that he had accompanied Majali to Iraq at least twice. "My job as the ANC secretary-general is to do party-to-party negotiations to strengthen our relationships with other parties.

"We had a good relationship with the Baath party in Iraq." When asked about his frequent trips with Majali, Motlanthe said: "Sandi Majali is a businessman, although he is an ANC member. I have been to many countries with him. We have been to Iraq twice, to Nigeria and Angola." Motlanthe would not say who had paid for the chartered Learjet.

"The people who paid for it asked to remain anonymous. It is not an offence to be on the same flight with Majali or anyone."