SNG withdraws from Gupta firms
SOUTH Africa’s biggest black-owned auditing firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo (SNG) yesterday resigned as auditors of Oakbay Resources and Energy and its related entities.
The SNG board said yesterday that it took this decision after a thorough assessment of its relationship with the company, which spanned a period of 18 months. The auditing firm said this decision had been communicated to Oakbay.
Oakbay Resources in April last year appointed SNG after the local unit of KPMG dropped the company over allegations that its owners, the Gupta family, were wielding undue political influence.
“When SNG took over the audit of Oakbay the risks associated with the engagement were evaluated in terms of the professional standards.
“As is required by the Code of Professional Conduct, when SNG was approached to take over the audit of Oakbay, SNG made contact with the outgoing auditor in order to establish whether there were any professional reasons why it would not be appropriate to accept the engagement,” the company said. “However, more recently following subsequent developments SNG have concluded to withdraw from the engagement.”
The board of SNG said it was satisfied that the company had carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the Audit Professions Act. “Further, SNG is committed to continue upholding its high professional standards as regulated by the Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors,” it said.
The embattled Gupta-owned company and its subsidiaries were recently rendered bankless when the North Gauteng High Court dismissed the companies interdict application to stop the Bank of Baroda from closing their accounts.