Advertisement
KPMG South Africa cuts links with firm owned by Zuma friends
The KPMG logo is seen at their offices at Canary Wharf financial district in London, Britain, March 3, 2016. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Reinhard Krause
04/04/2016
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Global accountancy firm KPMG's South African arm has severed its ties with a company owned by the Guptas, a family of Indian-born businessmen, due to a scandal over their relationship with President Jacob Zuma, according to an internal circular.
In the email sent to KPMG staff and seen by Reuters, local Chief Executive Trevor Hoole said he had decided to stop auditing Oakbay Resources and Energy, a Gupta mining holding company, after consulting regulators, clients and KPMG's internal risk departments.
"I can assure you that this decision was not taken lightly but in our view the association risk is too great for us to continue," Hoole said in the email.
"There will clearly be financial and potentially other consequences to this, but we view them as justifiable."
Oakbay did not respond to an email request for comment. A KPMG spokesman declined to comment.
The three Gupta brothers moved to South Africa from India at the end of apartheid in the early 1990s and went on to build a business empire that stretches from technology to the media to mining.
They have also forged a close personal relationship with Zuma, whose motorcade has been spotted several times pulling into their lavish mansion in suburban Johannesburg.
Zuma's son, Duduzane, sits on the board of at least six Gupta-owned companies, according to company registration papers.
Allegations of Gupta meddling in politics burst into the open last month when Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said they offered him the top job at the Treasury before Zuma inexplicably fired Jonas' boss, Nhlanhla Nene, in December.
Zuma insists his relationship with the family is above board, while the Guptas have said they are pawns in a politically motivated campaign to remove Zuma from office.
(Reporting by Ed Cropley; editing by Susan Thomas)
Add new comment