Features / Cover Story THE GUPTAS’ GENIE How McKinsey and Trillian milked billions from SA Inc The seemingly magical connections of Salim ‘Aladdin’ Essa saw the money taps turned on in an astonishing way BL PREMIUM

FREE TO READ: Given the importance of this story, we have decided to make this week's FM cover articles free to read. Want to read our columnists and other Financial Mail exclusives regularly? Subscribe now to BusinessLIVE Premium for less than R4 a day. First-time subscribers get the first month for only R10. Take a look at our subscription options to find one that suits you. After conducting a due diligence, McKinsey appointed Regiments as its supplier development partner in January 2013 for work it was conducting for several SoEs, including Transnet, with Essa and Moodley apparently receiving a cut of the proceeds. McKinsey would not confirm Essa and Moodley had brokered its relationship with Regiments, stating only that the global consultancy hadn’t paid them any fee. But this obscures the fact that their cut would have come from Regiments’ fee. According to two sources familiar with the deal, Essa was paid more than 30% of all revenue Regiments earned from its work with McKinse...