EFF leader Julius Malema’s family rents a home in a high-security Johannesburg estate owned by cigarette manufacturer Adriano Mazzotti‚ who says there is nothing untoward about the arrangement.

EWN reported on Monday that Mazzotti‚ who has consistently denied allegations of being involved in cigarette smuggling‚ lives in the same estate in the upmarket suburb of Hyde Park.

Mazzotti is part-owner of cigarette manufacturing company Carnilinx‚ which previously donated R200 000 to the EFF.

The Sunday Times reported in 2015 that court papers‚ related to a tax dispute between the red berets’ leader the South African Revenue Service (Sars)‚ revealed that Malema had informed Sars that Carnilinx director Kyle Phillips had loaned him R1m to help settle his tax bill.

Mazzotti told EWN there was nothing untoward about the arrangement and that Malema’s wife paid a market-related rent to live in his property.