State’s claims anger Smit Amandla

SMIT Amandla Marine, the specialised maritime services company being investigated by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, yesterday threatened to take the department to court for damaging its reputation.

Smit Amandla’s director Sithembiso Mthethwa said that the company would not let allegations by the department continue to damage its reputation and would now take it to court.

Reacting to the department’s statements issued on Monday that allege Smit Amandla Marine, along with department officials, had colluded to defraud the state of between R1.6bn and R2bn, Mr Mthethwa said: “We regret that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has not made any effort to verify facts despite numerous requests over the past six months. We are seeking legal recourse and a formal process to defend Smit Amandla Marine and to clear our name.”

Yesterday the department’s acting director-general Sipho Ntombela said the report compiled by auditing firm Ernst & Young on the allegations, did not implicate any individual but described the findings as worrisome. The statement released yesterday appeared to take a softer tone on the allegations, but Mr Ntombela said the department stood by Monday’s statement in which it accused Smit Amandla Marine of corruption to the value of R1.6bn to R2bn over the 12 years it held the contract.

Among the allegations was that the initial contract awarded by the then department of environmental affairs and tourism weighed heavily in Smit Amandla Marine’s favour and the service-level agreement that was part of the deal could not be found.

The report also said the extension of the contract in 2005 — where no normal procurement process was followed and the subsequent extension in 2010 and last year — had led to the situation.

Mr Ntombela said of 492 documents obtained from the Marine Living Resources Fund, 474 were invoices totalling more than R1.5bn and 18 were credit notes totalling R10m from February 2006 to March this year.

He said anomalies about the invoices included that 29 were not sequentially numbered in comparison to the date when submitted; two had handwritten alterations made to their numbers; one had its date erased; and 65 duplicate invoices worth R234m were identified.

Mr Ntombela said the findings were compiled from the department’s own documentation and that Smit Amandla Marine had not seen the report.