Former Dimension Data executives have rejected admissions made by the IT services firm’s former CEO Jason Goodall, over the sale of The Campus – the company’s Johannesburg headquarters.
In 2019, former Dimension Data executives participated in the sale of The Campus to a management-linked investment structure, with its mother company NTT financing 95% of the purchase price.
Following investigation by Dimension Data and NTT, the company instituted legal and court proceedings against the actions of the former executives over the non-disclosure of their personal financial interests in the sale of The Campus.
The transaction triggered a prolonged legal battle, with the High Court in 2024 declaring the deal null and void, and finding that the executives had breached their fiduciary duties.
The matter is currently before the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Goodall this week issued a statement, seen by ITWeb, in which he admitted participating on both the purchaser and seller sides of the 2019 transaction involving Dimension Data’s Johannesburg headquarters.
He also names former Dimension Data executives Jeremy Ord, Steven Nathan, Saki Missaikos and Grant Bodley as having participated alongside him. Goodall agreed to pay NTT $12.5 million, approximately R208.6 million, as part of the settlement.
In their response, issued yesterday, the former executives say his statement contradicts evidence he previously gave under oath and that Goodall had no authority to admit wrongdoing on their behalf.
“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 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,” the statement reads.
“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.”
According to the executives, the settlement agreement has not been published and only carefully selected terms of the settlement have been revealed in Goodall's statement.
Fund structure dispute
A central point of disagreement is the structure used for the former executives’ indirect investment in the transaction.
Goodall said in the statement that the interests of the executives were held through nominees in a structure designed to conceal their participation. He described the non-disclosure as a breach of fiduciary duty that misled NTT.
However, the four former executives dispute that account.
“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,” they said.
“The structure was not designed with the intention of hiding our participation in The Campus transaction.”
They further point out that Goodall was aware of the participation of Bodley, former CEO of Dimension Data Middle East and Africa.
“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,” they said.
The dispute echoes the competing accounts presented during the broader legal battle over The Campus transaction.
The former executives have previously maintained that NTT was aware of the management buyout discussions and that the empowerment structure was developed with the involvement and approval of NTT and its advisers.
The former executives say their participation in the fund cannot be separated from a management buyout (MBO) they were negotiating with NTT between 2019 and 2021.
“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,” they said.
“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.”
The MBO has been a key part of the former executives’ defence of their conduct. They have previously argued that NTT wanted to divest from Africa and that the proposed management buyout formed part of discussions surrounding the future ownership of the South African business.
Goodall, however, rejected that justification in his settlement statement, saying the conduct was not excused by the potential MBO because the proposed transaction was separate.
The 2019 sale of The Campus has been the subject of prolonged litigation. In November 2024, the Johannesburg High Court declared the transaction null and void, and found that the former executives had entered into an illegal scheme designed to secure a secret financial benefit.
The executives were granted leave to appeal, and the matter was subsequently argued before the Supreme Court of Appeal, where judgement has been reserved.
The former executives say Goodall’s statement should therefore not be treated as determining their liability while the appeal remains outstanding.
NTT has previously maintained that its legal case against the former executives is supported by the findings of the High Court and it remains committed to the legal process.
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