Six multi-millionaire businessmen in South Africa created a controversial BEE deal which can now land them in jail

Six former Dimension Data executives are in hot water following a controversial black economic empowerment deal, which can result in them facing criminal charges.

The issue dates back to December 2019, when The Campus was sold for R1.3 billion to Identity Property, a majority-black-women-owned company led by Sonja De Bruyn.

This deal was promoted as an important, broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) transaction for Dimension Data.

However, in 2022, its Japanese parent company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), launched an investigation into the deal.

This was after a whistleblower reportedly provided the company with sufficient evidence of malfeasance to warrant an investigation.

The investigation, NTT said, revealed that former senior executives failed to disclose their personal financial interests in the transaction and wrongfully concluded it.

These six former Dimension Data executives are Grant Bodley, Jeremy Ord, Jason Goodall, Steven Nathan, Saki Missaikos, and Bruce Watson.

In 2024, the Johannesburg High Court delivered a ruling against the six men and several people who worked with them on the deal.

“The scheme was brazen and dishonest. It was orchestrated without due regard to the relationships between the Japanese holding entities and the SA interests,” Judge Denise Fisher said.

Fischer said if this flouting of foundational and universal commercial values remains unchecked and unpunished, it would be a travesty.

She declared the transaction void and ordered that Dimension Data Facilities was entitled to restitution of The Campus and all related assets and contracts.

Fischer also ordered that the former executives and Identity Propco pay NTT’s legal costs on a punitive scale.

The executives said they would appeal the ruling, stating that they would clear their names by proving the deal was above board.

Jason Goodall comes clean

Former Dimension Data CEO Jason Goodall shocked the other accused when he admitted guilt and said that they were also involved.

In 2019 and 2020, I was Chief Executive Officer of the Dimension Data group and then of NTT Limited (together, NTT).

I admit that I participated on the purchaser’s side of the sale of NTT’s Johannesburg Campus in 2019. I did this secretly, while I also advised NTT on the seller’s side.

I participated on both sides of the transaction, together with Jeremy Ord, Steven Nathan, Saki Missaikos and Grant Bodley.

At the time, we all held senior positions in NTT and did not disclose our participation to NTT as we ought to have done, and I accept we were obliged to do. Nor did I disclose their participation to NTT when it was my duty to do so.

Our undisclosed interests were held through nominees in a structure designed to keep our names hidden. Our participation and non-disclosure were a very serious breach of fiduciary duty and misled NTT.

It was not excused by any potential management buyout, which we knew would be a separate transaction.

We successfully continued to hide our participation until it was discovered following a whistleblower report in May 2021.

I deeply regret my conduct and the harm it has caused NTT. I apologise unreservedly to NTT and all its employees.

In settlement, I have agreed to pay NTT approximately R208.6 million (US$12.5 million).

Former Dimension Data executives rejected Goodall’s settlement statement

Soon after Jason Goodall released his statement, four of the other accused released their own statement, disputing his version of events.

We have noted with shock and dismay the statement which appears to have been made by Jason Goodall, dated 5 October 2026.

In this statement, he has seen fit to speak on our behalf in admitting wrongdoing in respect of both his and our conduct in relation to the Campus Transaction.

Not only was Goodall not authorised to make any statement on our behalf, but his admission of wrongdoing is also entirely inconsistent with what he has deposed to under oath.

We note that his statement was signed as a term of a negotiated settlement that resolves substantial personal claims NTT had brought against him in separate proceedings in the UK.

The arbitration proceedings launched by NTT against him were set down for hearing on 5 October 2026.

There is no doubt that the wording of Goodall’s statement is the product of what was negotiated and agreed with NTT as a term of the settlement agreement.

The settlement agreement has not been published. Only carefully selected terms of the settlement have been revealed in Goodall’s statement.

It is most unusual, but not difficult to understand, why Goodall admitted that he was guilty of wrongdoing.

He also agreed with NTT to use the platform of his own settlement statement to point the accusatory finger at us as well.

Goodall has regrettably permitted NTT to use him as a weapon in their dubious ongoing publicity campaign against us.

The full statement is provided at the end of this article

Paul Hoffman of Accountability Now shares his views

Advocate Paul Hoffman, the founder and director of Accountability Now, told Biznews that criminal charges against the six executives may follow.

He said that the six executives committed massive fraud against NTT and that they will have to face the music.

This includes failure by persons in authority to report corrupt activities and a severe failure to disclose material conflicts of interest.

There are also accusations of fronting, where white male directors pretended that there were black female BEE beneficiaries, which is a statutory crime.

He added that, apart from the others facing big civil claims, the six former Dimension Data executives can also face criminal prosecution.

“The conduct described in Judge Denise Fischer’s High Court judgment and Goodall’s confession amounts to serious criminal transgressions,” he said.

“If the criminal justice system acts on these findings, the executives face very serious exposure to lengthier prison sentences.”

He described the transaction as an egregious example of white-collar crime where there is no way out of the woods on the merits.

He speculated that Goodall could enter a plea bargain with state prosecutors to become a state witness under Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

This, he explained, would be in exchange for a lighter sentence or indemnity from criminal prosecution.

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Full statement from Jeremy Ord, Steven Nathan, Saki Missaikos, and Grant Bodley

We have noted with shock and dismay the statement which appears to have been made by Jason Goodall dated 5 October 2026, in which he has seen fit to speak on our behalf in admitting wrongdoing in respect of both his and our conduct in relation to the Campus Transaction.

Not only was Mr Goodall not authorised to make any statement on our behalf, but his admission of wrongdoing is also entirely inconsistent with what Mr Goodall has deposed to under oath.

We note that Mr Goodall’s statement was signed as a term of a negotiated settlement that resolves substantial personal claims NTT had brought against him in separate proceedings in the UK.

The arbitration proceedings launched by NTT against Mr Goodall were set down for hearing on 5 October 2026. There is no doubt that the wording of Mr Goodall’s statement is the product of what was negotiated and agreed between NTT and Mr Goodall as a term of the settlement agreement.

The settlement agreement has not been published. Only carefully selected terms of the settlement have been revealed in Mr Goodall’s statement.

It is most unusual, but not difficult to understand, why Mr Goodall not only admitted that he was guilty of wrongdoing but also agreed with NTT to use the platform of his own settlement statement (in proceedings in which we were not involved) to point the accusatory finger at us as well.

Mr Goodall has regrettably permitted NTT to use him as a weapon in their dubious ongoing publicity campaign against us.

Mr Goodall advised us, via WhatsApp on 5 October, before this statement was released that he was “devastated” and “shattered” and that in the context of “a brutal weekend and a really tough time over the last 6 months preparing for the arbitration”, he had settled his case with NTT.

There is no doubt that he felt pressure to conclude the settlement agreement and to agree to the statement that he advised that NTT would publish, because if he had been unsuccessful, he would have, in his words, been “totally wiped out”.

It is sad for us to respond to Mr Goodall’s statement by pointing out that what he has now stated directly contradicts many statements he has made under oath and that he has done so pursuant to the terms of the settlement he has reached with NTT.

Contrary to Mr Goodall’s statement and to what Mr Goodall himself deposed to under oath, the fund structure through which we made our indirect investment in the Campus transaction was designed by Identity Partners and specifically approved by NTT under advisement from various advisors, including Webber Wentzel Attorneys and a commercial bank.

The structure was not designed with the intention of hiding our participation in the Campus transaction.

In fact, what makes Mr Goodall’s statement all the more inexplicable is that he knows that Grant Bodley sought and obtained permission from him (in his capacity as Bodley’s boss and as a representative of NTT) to participate in the Fund.

We only participated in the Fund because the Campus was considered by us and NTT to be an integral and essential part of an MBO transaction, which we were actively negotiating with NTT from 2019 to 2021, and which we had been told by NTT to keep under wraps to avoid speculation and market uncertainty.

NTT at all times controlled the Campus through the loan in terms of which they had provided 95% of the purchase price for the Campus, and at any point, they could have taken the Campus back under the loan, as they have now done.

Lastly, we note with concern the deeply inappropriate but expedient nature of the timing of the release of Mr Goodall’s statement. The wrongdoing which has been gratuitously attributed to us in Mr Goodall’s statement is currently before the Supreme Court of Appeal, where judgment has been reserved. The entire matter is sub judice.

We have full faith in the Supreme Court of Appeal, and we will not be judged by a statement made by Mr Goodall on terms dictated by his settlement agreement with NTT. 

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Jason Goodall’s message to the other accused

Hi Guys

I just want you to know that after a brutal weekend and a really tough time over the last 6 months preparing for the arbitration, I settled my U.K. case with NTT earlier today.

I have also settled the action proceedings in SA in the process. A statement will be issued which explains the cost to me of settling, which is in excess of R200 million, on top of my own legal costs, which are around R150 million, so R350 million in total.

It makes me feel sick. This is a financial disaster for me, and I’m devastated, but it’s still multiples less than what the potential cost could easily have been. I would have been totally wiped out.

I can’t say anything more about the settlement or the statement that NTT will publish. There are confidentiality clauses in place in the settlement that I cannot breach.

Farrers will shortly be in touch with Werksmans as well to let them know. I really can’t say any more than that.

I’m sorry, but I hope you understand my position as per the non-disclosures in place. I’m shattered. I know how hard all of this has been on all of you guys, too, and hope you are all doing ok.

All the best.

Cheers

Jason

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