KPMG no stranger to dodgy dealings

YOU don’t need to be a forensic auditor to join the dots. You just need Wikipedia. It’s all there.

2004: KPMG pays $115-million in settlements after a software company it audits is revealed to have fabricated 70% of its sales in its largest unit.

2006: KPMG is sued for $2-billion by the Federal National Mortgage Association‚ the US’s de facto home-loan originator‚ for signing off on “years of erroneous financial statements”.

2007: KPMG is investigated by German authorities for turning a blind eye to suspicious payments made to Siemens.

2008: KPMG is sued for $1-billion for rubber-stamping “improper and imprudent practices” at New Century Financial‚ the US’s second largest sub-prime lender in 2007 and a major domino that fell in the ensuing global collapse.

Also in 2008: KPMG pays $80million for helping to overstate Xerox’s earnings by $2-billion.

The list goes on. There are allegations of helping tax evasion in Canada‚ “serious accounting improprieties” left undiscovered in a company bought by Hewlett-Packard‚ resulting in an $8.8-billion oopsie.

And now you’re surprised that KPMG’s South African outpost has been linked to the dodgy dealings of state captors? Why?

KPMG even crops up in the greatest fraud of all time‚ Bernie Madoff’s dazzling theft of $18-billion (twice the amount allegedly stolen by the Zuptas over the last 10 years).

Two funds they were auditing sank more than $2-billion into Bernie’s back pocket.

No‚ the current kerfuffle is just the latest example of KPMG rolling over‚ wagging its tail and rubberstamping dubious documents handed to it by corrupt employers.

Local companies are ditching KPMG and gatvol South Africans are demanding that the whole firm be put out of business. Such a victory‚ however‚ seems unlikely.

This is not a London PR firm staffed by spray-tanned sociopaths. These are the keepers of the financial secrets for the big‚ bad‚ unflappable people who run the world. KPMG is going nowhere.

As for the local bosses who signed off on state capture‚ well‚ they’ll have a tough year or two. But they’ll pull through. — DDC