A timeline of scandal: The reach of Gupta-associated Trillian into state money


Trillian Capital Partners are facing damning allegations of profiting from state-owned enterprises and inside knowledge of government affairs. 

The financial advisory company, which has been linked to the Gupta family, is under the directorship of Gupta-ally Salim Essa, who owns a 60% stake in the company.

The release of a report by advocate Geoff Budlender on Trillian’s relationship with government officials and state owned enterprises, and Eskom recently admitting that the power utility had paid Trillian almost R500-million without a contract in place, have brought further scrutiny into, and outrage against, the company.

At the centre of this web of nefarious dealings is an allegation that Trillian never did any work or acquired any tenders to earn the money it was given.

With a history of allegations stacked up against it, Trillian has become one of the important Gupta-friendly firms at the heart of state capture.

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