Oakbay loses its sponsor

not in breach of any JSE rules and River Group would stay on until the end of July, Lianos said.

“Shareholders will be advised in due course as to developments in this regard,” Oakbay said in a statement.

If Oakbay fails to find another sponsor, the JSE will suspend its listing, as its rules stipulate that companies must employ a sponsor to monitor compliance with listing requirements.

On Friday, Oakbay reported a loss of R936.5m for the year to February. Cash reserved had dwindled by R220m to R2.7m.

Oakbay’s auditors SizweNtsalubaGobodo issued an unmodified audit opinion on the results. It was busy with the audit of other Oakbay group companies, said CEO Victor Sekese. “Once the audit has been completed, as part of our annual risk assessment, we will assess our continuance as auditors going forward.”

The audit regulator confirmed the audit firm had earlier reported irregularities in the financial statements of Oakbay, Shiva Uranium, Eskom, Transnet and Denel. The reported irregularities at Oakbay, Shiva Uranium and Denel had either not continued or could be explained, said the CEO of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, Bernard Agulhas.

Reports for Eskom and Transnet were due at the end of June. If reportable irregularities were continuing, these would be referred to the relevant authority for investigation, he said.

The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism reported that Gupta associates had scored R5.3bn in kickbacks associated with the purchase of locomotives by Transnet, while Eskom approved a R659m prepayment to the Guptas’ Tegeta to fund its purchase of Optimum Coal.