Bain & Company South Africa will stay excluded from UK Government enterprise till 4 January 2025.
- The UK authorities has lifted a ban in opposition to world consultancy Bain & Company.
- The Zondo Commission discovered that Bain’s SA department colluded with former president Jacob Zuma and ex-SA Revenue Service boss Tom Moyane to “capture” the tax company.
- The UK says whereas Bain SA stays banned, the worldwide Bain shall be topic to “rigorous monitoring” for 2 years.
- For extra monetary information, go to the News24 Business front page.
The UK authorities has lifted a ban in opposition to world consultancy Bain & Company from bidding for state work seven months after imposing the sanction.
The authorities initially introduced the ban in August 2022. This was after the Zondo Commission discovered that Bain’s South African department colluded with former president Jacob Zuma and ex-SA Revenue Service (SARS) boss Tom Moyane to “capture” the tax company.
The UK authorities stated on Tuesday that Bain and its associates exterior of South Africa are now not excluded from bidding for state work. However, Bain & Co. South Africa will stay excluded till 4 January 2025, given the findings made by fee chair Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
“Bain & Company have cooperated with our investigations and have provided considerable additional information on their self-cleansing actions. They have also agreed to a period of rigorous monitoring for a minimum of two years, during which their continued compliance will be assessed,” the UK authorities stated.
“This decision is subject to a regular and thorough period of close monitoring, for a minimum of two years, so we can be satisfied that the company continues to uphold the measures they have now put in place.”
In September final yr, South Africa’s National Treasury additionally banned Bain & Co. from tendering for public sector contracts for a interval of 10 years for partaking in “corrupt and fraudulent practices” associated to its contract at SARS.
The UK authorities stated it’s going to overview any new data, together with “any potential reconsideration by the South African government of their decision to ban Bain & Company South Africa.”
Lord Peter Hain, a former UK Cabinet minister with hyperlinks to South Africa, had beforehand claimed Bain was using workers in its London workplace who “colluded” with Zuma.
He stated in an announcement on Tuesday that, “rather than apply more pressure to advance the cause of justice the UK government has now copped out and lifted the ban on Bain it rightly imposed last year at my request”.
Hain added, in reference to Nugent Commission that investigated SARS:
Bain has launched a world spin marketing campaign to painting itself because the sufferer, whereas it holds onto the tens of millions earned from its public contracts in South Africa, deemed ‘illegal’ by the nation’s chief justice. ‘Not one however two judicial commissions of inquiry discovered Bain to have colluded with former President Zuma to undermine the nation’s state establishments, paving the way in which for public funds to be siphoned off into personal pockets.
Bain obtained R167 million in charges over 27 months from SARS, which it has subsequently repaid, with curiosity. It nevertheless stated the Zondo report mischaracterised the position it performed at SARS, and wrote to SARS and the minister of finance to ask that the ban be overturned.
Bain SA managing accomplice Stephen York stated in an announcement on Tuesday that the corporate continues “to regret the mistakes made in the company’s work for SARS under the former leadership, which we have acknowledged and apologised publicly for.”
“However, there is no evidence that Bain colluded with SARS or engaged in any corrupt and fraudulent practices, and we remain ready to work cooperatively with any authority that approaches us and welcome the opportunity to clear our name,” he stated.
“The new Bain South Africa leadership is confident that the comprehensive actions taken by the firm locally and globally will ensure that we never repeat our past mistakes – in South Africa or elsewhere… Our stated intent to be a force for good in the country remains, where we hope to play our part to help address some of the South Africa’s biggest challenges.”
The Zondo Commission discovered that Bain’s former managing accomplice Vittorio Massone had frequent conferences with Zuma and that the consultancy and Moyane did “detailed planning” of deliberate restructuring on the tax company “before they even stepped foot into SARS”.
Zondo’s report really useful that police probe Bain’s work at SARS and that each one the consultancy’s contracts with South African departments and organs of state be re-examined for potential wrongdoing.
Hain stated that if the UK authorities was taking “any comfort from the fact that Bain has not been prosecuted in South Africa, it is a false comfort.”
“This is no indication of innocence, only an indication of an overstretched justice system that is creaking under the weight of corruption to which Bain has contributed.”
In his view, the UK ban needs to be held in place at the least till the present South Africa regulation enforcement processes in opposition to Bain have totally run their course.
*This story has been up to date to incorporate feedback by Bain SA managing accomplice Stephen York.
