AS IT HAPPENED: Sundaram tells State Capture Inquiry he was 'conned' into launching a 'mafia and propaganda' station

Sundaram says a Gupta brother at one point physically assaulted a staffer or would call them monkeys and scream at them.

He would blame his behaviour on the fact that he is a diabetic.

Zondo scrutinises  Sundaram's resignation letter. They agree that the contents of the letter did not reflect Sundaram's true feelings about working at ANN7 and with the Guptas.

He says he wanted to end on amicable terms.

A few months after setting up the station "it took an effect on my health," Sundaram tells the inquiry. Speaking of his resignation, Sundaram says he was conned in setting up what he believed was a mafia station.

He didn't want the departing ways to be bitter.

Sundaram says his book was written in 2014 already but was advised by lawyers not to publish yet and publishers wanted to investigate the claims in the book.

The book was published without any changes and after due process was followed, during the time of the Gupta Leaks in 2018.

Sundaram now on the fourth meeting with Zuma, which happened the day before the launch of the ANN7 news channel. This meeting took place at the ANN7 studios, says Sundaram.

Back from the short break, Advocate Norman continues leading Sundaram's evidence, following Zondo's direct line of questioning about Sundaram's book.

Zondo requests a quick, five-minute adjournment. Back in five. 

Zondo is currently heavily referencing Sundaram's book, asking him questions about direct quotes and lines that he published in his book with quotation marks, which would indicate that these words were exactly what was said at the time, but Sundaram has no recordings to reference. These "quotes" were all written from memory, as well as descriptions of the speakers' body language. 

Sundaram says that these "things stayed in my mind", suggesting that he has a very good memory and everything written in the book is how everything happened "to the best of his knowledge". 

Sundaram says he was absolutely focused on each and every word that was said in these meetings. The gist is contained in his book.

Sundaram, paraphrasing Jacob Zuma's reaction to the ANN7 bulletins in the video clip shown to him, says Zuma said something along the lines of "You have a good thing on your hands" and that they were much better than the SABC, which was "horrible".

Sundaram says the Guptas told Duduzane that they had a surprise for him, which was a clip of a mock run of a news bulletin, which was shown on a screen set up in the meeting room. 

Sundaram says he had major concerns about the poor quality of the video clip, but the Guptas told him that Zuma wouldn't know anything about the quality anyway. 

Zondo calls for the lunch adjournment. Back at 14:00.

Sundaram describes the disastrous launch day of the ANN7 news station, calling it a "trainwreck" that he had very little say in, and for it to happen under his watch, was a very dark day for him. 

"This was the most depressing time of my life..." Sundaram admits.

Sundaram says the launch date was decided by Atul and Ajay Gupta, and the high-tech studio cameras came in on the last day right before the launch. Ordinarily, the staff would have had to be trained in advance to use these cameras - "A news team would have a month to debug the logistics," says Sundaram. 

Sundaram says the news anchors were also not professional journalists, but rather "models who were being trained..."

Sundaram describes how journalists and news presenters were not keen on working at ANN7 due to the Guptas' reputation, but Sundaram says that Zuma said he would think of potential presenters. According to Sundaram, Zuma said that Mzwanele Manyi would be a "perfect fit" for the kind of position at ANN7 and they should hire him.

Sundaram explains how former president Jacob Zuma was referred to as "Number 9" to keep matters "as secretive as possible" in their dealings. 

Sundaram: "If we do discuss about the meeting - because we had to make a presentation and the inputs had to be discussed with the senior management - and if we're discussing before others we should not mention the president by name. That's what Atul Gupta said. He said we should refer to him as 'Number 9'..."

Sundaram: "So I asked him, 'Why Number 9? Why not Number 3 or Number 7 or Number 10?' He said Number 9 was the code that was given to president Zuma when he was part of the ANC and he was part of an intelligence grouping during the apartheid years, and that's a codename that he would want to use in this case."

Sundaram says whenever Gupta called him the day before a meeting, he would tell him they need to "meet with Number 9" at whatever time, in reference to Zuma. 

Sundaram says The New Age (TNA) business breakfasts would also be discussed with Jacob Zuma. If they had any problems getting ministers to attend or to secure funding for the breakfasts, the Guptas would inform Zuma. 

Sundaram says he got the sense that the Guptas had very good ties with the president. "President Zuma was very warm to them," he says. 

Evidence leader Advocate Thandi Norman notes that it is now 11:15, and Zondo calls for the short tea adjournment. 

Back at 11:30. 

Sundaram earlier mentioned Oakbay Investments, Essel Media and Mabengela Investments among the owners of the company's share capital. 

From a list of directors - both active and those who had resigned - Sundaram reads some recognisable names that include the likes of Laxmi Goel, Atul Gupta, Duduzane Zuma, Moegsien Williams, Mzwanele Manyi... 

Sundaram says when he agreed to join Infinity Media, he wasn't made aware that then-president Jacob Zuma's son, Duduzane Zuma, was a partner in the business. Sundaram says he may have reconsidered and might not have joined, if he had known. 

Sundaram says there was a "sense of the involvement" of the president in the ANN7 project. 

Sundaram says the "Infinity Media" that he had signed a contract for was a company in South Africa. Sundaram says he was told that since there was a joint venture between Goel's Essel Media and the Gupta-owned company, it was a "transfer" between two joint venture partners. 

Sundaram says he was told it "was all part of Infinity Media". 

Sundaram talks about how someone who had been hired as part of the HR team, in their "enthusiasm" went to the South African High Commission, with the passports of prospective employees, without informing Ashu Chawla. 

Sundaram: "And of course, he was denied access. He asked to speak with somebody at the visa section there, and I think the point person we were told was 'Mr Shakeel', he asked to speak with Mr Shakeel and he was told that there's no Shakeel who worked there..."

Sundaram: "But of course, the next day, Mr Laxmi Goel gave him a dressing down, told him that if there's visas to be processed, the process to be followed was for Mr Ashu Chawla to be informed, for him to then use his influence in the government to give instructions to the High Commission in New Delhi, for them to issue those visas."

Sundaram says true to that, the visas then applied for in this manner, "came in very quickly on application".