EDINBURGH — It’s taken a long time for the wheels of justice to turn in the Zupta state capture scandal, but finally the corrupt and corruptors are being brought to book. Former KPMG partner Jacques Wessels is a cocky auditor who has been unrepentant about his role in helping the Gupta family dodge tax and also getting South African taxpayers to foot the bill for a lavish Gupta wedding. It was the extravagant wedding, at Sun City, which first lifted the lid on the Gupta family’s close relationship with politicians at the highest levels. This is because more than 200 guests arrived in a plane that landed at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, a national key point and therefore ordinarily out-of-bounds for commercial and private aeroplanes. Wessels has now been removed from the role of approved auditors. Many onlookers will be hoping that Wessels will also end up doing jail time for tax crimes and corruption. The KPMG role in state capture is much wider and deeper than the Sun City wedding, with KPMG involved in preparing a fake report with a view to ousting former finance minister Pravin Gordhan among its dirty deeds with the Zuma administration. – Jackie Cameron
By Thulasizwe Sithole
The former KPMG auditor at the centre of a huge corruption scandal in South Africa has been struck off by the local accounting watchdog after admitting six charges of improper conduct, the Financial Times reports.
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“South Africa’s accounting regulator said on Thursday that former KPMG partner Jacques Wessels would be removed from its register of approved auditors and had been ordered to pay an unspecified contribution towards the watchdog’s costs,” says the global business newspaper.
The FT points out that the case against Wessels has been one of the most closely watched disciplinary proceedings ever carried out by the audit regulator given the public outrage in South Africa over KPMG’s work for the billionaire Gupta family.
“The family has been accused of using a friendship with Jacob Zuma, the former president, to advance their business interests by influencing government decisions. Both the Guptas and Mr Zuma have denied any wrongdoing.
“Mr Wessels was responsible for auditing Linkway, a Gupta-owned company at the centre of claims that the family used a state-funded dairy project in South Africa to launder money.”
Emails leaked from the Gupta organisation showed that the KPMG South Africa office approved Linkway to treat spending on a Gupta family wedding in 2013 as a business expense.
“Four KPMG partners attended the wedding. Two of the six allegations against Mr Wessels involved claims of dishonesty, three charges related to negligence and one charge related to a breach of auditor independence. All of the charges related to KPMG’s audit of Linkway’s financial statements for the year ended 28 February 2014.”
South Africa’s accounting regulator, IRBA, is continuing to pursue separate investigations into KPMG’s work for the Guptas, adds the FT.
