BizNews Edge: Alec Hogg weighs in on DiData, answers questions on ABC/Altvest

One of the so-called Campus Six has cracked.

He signed a confession and agreed to pay NTT, the Japanese multinational, 208.6 million rand.

I've seen the private message he sent his co-respondents on the day that he settled.

That was Monday.

And I've heard from both sides since then.

And then Africa Bitcoin Corporation, a company once known as AltFest, where the former CEO's shareholding vehicle wants new faces on the board, but the directors of the board who remain have told the stock market through the Stock Exchange News Service he doesn't want them.

And I'll answer, on the record, questions put to me about BizNews' own connection to that company.

So let's start with the deal.

In December 2019, Dimension Data sold its head office, the campus in Bryanston, to a black woman-led consortium.

Bloomberg later put the value of the deal at 1.4 billion Rand.

The deal lifted our data from a level four to level two on BBBEE.

Everybody was happy.

Then in 2021, a whistleblower came forward.

NTT, Diodata's Japanese owner, had commissioned a forensic investigation on the strength of that and then went to court.

In November 2024, Judge Denise Fisher in the Johannesburg High Court declared the sale void.

She found that the six had entered into an illegal scheme designed to appropriate for themselves a secret financial benefit.

She ordered the campus returned and she also awarded punitive costs.

The Sikhs appealed.

The Supreme Court of Appeal heard them in May and reserved judgment.

We're waiting for that judgment to be given.

On Wednesday this week, the six became five.

Jason Goodall, former chief executive of Dimension Data and of NTT in the UK, has settled with the Japanese.

His signed statement, dated the 5th of October and confirmed by NTT as authentic, says that the executive's Quote, undisclosed interests were held through nominees in a structure designed to keep their names hidden.

He calls it a very serious breach of fiduciary duty.

He apologizes unreservedly.

One of the so-called Campus Six has cracked.

He signed a confession and agreed to pay NTT, the Japanese multinational, 208.6 million rand.

I've seen the private message he sent his co-respondents on the day that he settled.

That was Monday.

And I've heard from both sides since then.

And then Africa Bitcoin Corporation, a company once known as AltFest, where the former CEO's shareholding vehicle wants new faces on the board, but the directors of the board who remain have told the stock market through the Stock Exchange News Service he doesn't want them.

And I'll answer, on the record, questions put to me about BizNews' own connection to that company.

So let's start with the deal.

In December 2019, Dimension Data sold its head office, the campus in Bryanston, to a black woman-led consortium.

Bloomberg later put the value of the deal at 1.4 billion Rand.

The deal lifted our data from a level four to level two on BBBEE.

Everybody was happy.

Then in 2021, a whistleblower came forward.

NTT, Diodata's Japanese owner, had commissioned a forensic investigation on the strength of that and then went to court.

In November 2024, Judge Denise Fisher in the Johannesburg High Court declared the sale void.

She found that the six had entered into an illegal scheme designed to appropriate for themselves a secret financial benefit.

She ordered the campus returned and she also awarded punitive costs.

The Sikhs appealed.

The Supreme Court of Appeal heard them in May and reserved judgment.

We're waiting for that judgment to be given.

On Wednesday this week, the six became five.

Jason Goodall, former chief executive of Dimension Data and of NTT in the UK, has settled with the Japanese.

His signed statement, dated the 5th of October and confirmed by NTT as authentic, says that the executive's Quote, undisclosed interests were held through nominees in a structure designed to keep their names hidden.

He calls it a very serious breach of fiduciary duty.

He apologizes unreservedly.