Controversial media owner Iqbal Survé has been using the bank account of one of his companies, which received billions of rands of government pension money, as his personal piggy bank.
Ayo Technology, in which Survé is a shareholder through African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI), formerly Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, has been courting controversy since the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) announced it would invest R4.3bn in it to create the largest black-owned ICT company in December 2017.
The PIC paid R4.3bn for a 29% stake at R43 a share, when the company's real value at the time was said to be hovering around 15c a share. The PIC also partly funded Survé's acquisition of Independent Newspapers, publishers of The Star, the Cape Times and The Mercury, in 2013.
Survé has repeatedly denied allegations of financial mismanagement at Ayo, citing the company as a model of good governance and a model for empowering black people, trade unions and smaller groupings.
Repeated attempts were made to contact Survé for comment. After an initial meeting on Thursday, when he declined to comment on the record, Survé promised to give his side of the story yesterday but did not.
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