Matjila probe finally gets off the ground
• Lawyers set up e-mail account for documentary evidence and invite whistle-blowers to tell all
More than a year after allegations that put a cloud over Africa’s biggest asset manager, lawyers have asked for infor mation to assist with an investigation into Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO Dan Matjila.
Matjila was accused in an anonymous e-mail on September 5 2017 of failing to comply with procedures when he approved funding for a company linked to a woman with whom he allegedly had a romantic relationship.
The CEO, who has denied that the woman was his girlfriend or that he acted improperly, was also accused of asking a PIC beneficiary to assist her financially. The controversy did not go away after the PIC board cleared him of wrongdoing.
The PIC is one of the key institutions in SA, managing about R2-trillion on behalf of government employees.
The company, the biggest shareholder on the JSE, has come under pressure to be more transparent about its investment portfolio and decision-making processes. And it has come under fire for some of its investments, including its 25% stake in Independent News and Media. Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene said in July that the PIC was working on an exit strategy from Independent News and Media.
Boardroom squabbles over the handling of the Matjila matter led to two PIC directors quitting since the end of July.
Following an instruction to the PIC board by Nene in July, law firm Cheadle Thompson & Haysom sent a letter to PIC staff on September 5, urging potential whistle-blowers to send documentary evidence to a restricted e-mail account by September 7. Interviews could be set up between Monday and Thursday.
The investigation will also focus on the role played by CFO Matshepo More in the awarding of R21m to Maison Holdings.
UDM president Bantu Holomisa, who took Nene to court to suspend Matjila and institute an independent investigation, said the limited timeline suggested that the investigation was “designed with a specific outcome in mind”. He also said
the executives should have been suspended, as PIC staff would not otherwise feel confident to step forward.
But advocate Geoff Budlender SC, who is heading the investigation, said the request for information and the invitation to attend an “initial round of interviews” were only some of the first steps undertaken to collect information. These dates were not “cut-off dates” and all relevant information would be considered, even if received after these dates, he said.
They would “attempt” to meet the September 30 deadline for their report, as set by Nene. Budlender said investigators “will take the necessary steps to protect the confidentiality of any whistle-blowers ”.
Any information not relevant to its investigation would be passed on to the independent inquiry into the governance and structures of the PIC, which was due to be set up by Nene, Budlender said.
Nene said in July he would ask President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish an independent inquiry into the PIC, following the Matjila allegations.
This commission’s terms of reference would include “a review of the PIC’s governance and operating model, possible changes to the PIC’s founding legislation and its memorandum of incorporation, and investment decision-making framework”, Nene said in an August update.
According to the Treasury, the inquiry’s terms of reference would be “announced shortly”.
Holomisa said the inquiry should focus on broader issues than just the structures and investment policies of the PIC, to include specific investments.
“There have been nauseating exposes of some of the PIC’s investments. This is not about policies; it’s about money being wasted,” he said.
Recent controversial investments by the PIC include its handling of decisions involving VBS Mutual Bank, which was placed into curatorship earlier in 2018. Two PIC representatives on the VBS board, who were alleged to have benefited from the looting of the bank by its executives, have since left the corporation.
The PIC has also come under fire for its purchase of a 29.9% stake for R4.3bn in Iqbal Surve’s Ayo Technology Solutions in December — an investment that is now more than R1bn out of pocket.