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“Tony Leon [former DA leader], Gavin Varejes and the Mercedes-Benz” – Marc Rich comes into the picture – Part 1

https://mg.co.za/article/2007-06-01-tony-leon-gavin-varejes-and-the-mercedes-benz/
1 Jun 2007

In his June 2001 declaration of interests to Parliament, Tony Leon noted under consultancies or retainerships: ‘Richmart (Pty) Ltd — investment holding company”. The value of benefits to be received, he wrote, was ‘nominal at this stage — to be negotiatedâ€.

In years to come, the then leader of the opposition left that space empty. Whatever transpired in his negotiations with Richmart, Leon may thank his lucky stars he did not become a director.

That would have been too visible, and Richmart co-founder Gavin Varejes could all too easily have become a public liability — his name popped up in the Tigon matter and a scandal over R100 000 ‘hush money” he had paid to a woman who accused cricketing bad boy Shane Warne of sending her inappropriate messages.

Richmart was later renamed Richmark Holdings. The reason may be an appropriate metaphor for the political liability associated with Varejes: he changed the name, it is claimed, because of his admiration for Mark Rich, the international commodity trader, sanctions buster and tax cheat who was controversially pardoned by Bill Clinton in the final hours of his presidency. Donations by Rich’s former wife to Clinton’s Democratic Party and his presidential library fanned the scandal.