SAICA suspends Anoj Singh, delays disciplinary hearing

Jul 04 2019 17:35
Sibongile Khumalo

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants says it has delayed the disciplinary process against Transnet and Eskom's former chief financial officer, Anoj Singh, in light of fresh allegations which implicate him.

SAICA also said it had in the interim decided to suspend Singh’s membership of the accountant’s body, pending the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.

The disciplinary hearing had previously been scheduled from 15 to 19 July.

"In the course of preparing for that hearing, SAICA became aware of information that has recently become available in the public domain that implicates Mr. Singh," it said a statement.

"In light of this, SAICA is considering the new information and will possibly be amending the charges against Mr. Singh."

Singh has been implicated in wrongdoing in Transnet’s controversial procurement of 1 064 locomotives in 2014, in a process which had been blamed for flouting regulations.

The body said the postponement of the scheduled disciplinary was done "in order to avoid a piecemeal hearing" and to ensure that all allegations against Singh are fully investigated and dealt with.

Last month, the inquiry into State Capture heard evidence that advisory firm Regiments Capital earned an "excessive" R265.5m from Transnet to facilitate loan transactions for the state freight and rail entity to finance its locomotive project.

Court papers filed by Transnet in November 2018 to recoup inflated payments from Regiments stated that Singh and other executives "colluded fraudulently to cause Transnet to transfer to Regiments an over-payment of R151m."

In the court papers, Singh and three other former executive are accused of having breached their fiduciary duties by recommending or allowing the over-payment, which resulted in financial losses for Transnet. Singh was in 2009  acting chief financial officer for Transnet, before being permanently appointed to the position. In 2015 he left Transnet for Eskom.SAICA said a new date for his hearing will be announced shortly.


transnet  |  state capture
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