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KPMG agreed to “some sort of redress” for SA Revenue Services (Sars) officials who were “traumatized” as a result of the audit firm’s work on the 2014 report, now largely retracted, at Alto’s Investigations Unit. Risk (HRIU) and accusations had become “rogue”.
KPMG President Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu confirmed this during the launch of his new book: Enabler or victim? KPMG SA and state capture, on Friday.
But Johann van Loggerenberg, who was previously the head of the HRIU and has spoken publicly about how the “rogue unit”
The narrative “destroyed” the lives of some of his colleagues – yesterday he welcomed what he described as KPMG’s “unequivocal and unequivocal acceptance that the report caused harm to people.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen an acceptance of guilt,” he said.
Van Loggerenberg said, however, that he had no idea that KPMG and Sars had been in these discussions as of Friday, and expressed concern that those who were actually affected may not have been involved.
Nkuhlu said that while the firm was trying to “restore trust” with Sars, “the issue of people who were traumatized during the investigation came up.”
“Several people had to seek advice and others quit because they were being pressured during that time to do things that they were not comfortable with,” Nkuhlu said.
He said the suggestion that KPMG should contribute to repairs – and “the healing of those people” – had also come up.
and an agreement had been reached.
“There is an understanding, on both sides, that it must be done,” he said, adding that the firm recognized that “people were traumatized.”
He said that Covid-19 had stalled the process but that it was “a matter of time.” He did not reveal any further details.
Sars spokesman Siphiti Sibeko said yesterday that they were not in a position to answer questions on the matter and that he was prohibited from speaking about “any kind of commitment to taxpayers.”
KPMG, one of the country’s “Big Four,” has been embroiled in a series of state capture scandals over the years.
In addition to KPMG writing the 2014 “rogue unit” report, the conclusions, recommendations and legal opinions of
that the firm has since backed down – a former KPMG audit partner was also responsible for auditing Gupta-owned Linkway Trading.
It was through this company that funds earmarked for the Vrede dairy project were allegedly channeled to Gupta’s multi-million dollar Sun City wedding in 2013.
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