JSE fines former Luxe CEO R7.5m

The JSE has fined former Luxe CEO Helena Grewar R7.5m for selling shares in a closed period, noting that she did not co-operate with its investigation and “obstructed” the JSE’s regulatory process.

Grewar more commonly goes by the name Althea Cloete.

Luxe, which owned Arthur Kaplan Jewellers and NWJ, became mired in controversy as owners linked to the failed Aurora mine saga took over almost immediately after Grewar amassed a 34.9% stake in the firm.

Luxe’s listing on the JSE was terminated in 2023.

The individuals from Aurora working at Luxe that took over when Grewar bought a minority stake included consultants Faizel Bhana and Bashir Moosa, attorney Ahmed Amod and former Aurora directors Tony Chammas and Thulani Ngubane.

The Pamodzi Grootvlei gold mine near Springs went from being a working mine to one that was not running, with equipment looted, 5,300 workers unpaid and serious environmental damage after it was taken over by Aurora Empowerment Systems from October 2009 to May 2011.

This is the third company the group has been involved with that left behind a string of unpaid creditors and then went into liquidation.

Grewar, or Cloete, breached JSE-listing rules, when she sold shares to Johannesburg business Hoosein Mohamed in December 2022, in a closed period. Mohamed was later arrested and jailed for a month for pointing a gun at one of at the liquidators of NWJ, one of Luxe’s subsidiaries.

The JSE said the prohibition on dealings in a closed period is to ensure markets operate fairly and to promote investor protection and confidence.

The JSE said Grewar did not participate in the investigation.

“Notably, Grewar’s refusal to acknowledge or engage with regulatory correspondence, or to operate with the JSE’s investigation, casts serious doubt on her commitment to compliance and indicates a lack of transparency and accountability, fundamental to sound corporate governance.

“Grewar’s actions obstructed the JSE’s regulatory process and undermined its effective oversight of market integrity.”

The censure means she is prohibited from being a director of any listed firm for five years. The local bourse said she was well versed in the listing requirements but failed to uphold them.

“Grewar, as the CEO, was expected to uphold the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency, and to act in the best interest of the company and its stakeholders at all times.”

When Grewar resigned as chair of the now failed dry foods business Nutritional Holdings in late 2021, investors struggled for months to get hold of her and she breached listing requirements by failing to tell the market timeously she had resigned.

After the courts had placed a Luxe subsidiary in liquidation, Grewar told Business Day this was “a rumour she was investigating”.