The High Court in Pretoria will rule on Monday morning on an urgent court application to gag UDM leader Bantu Holomisa from alleging that a major BEE investment firm and prominent business figures may be involved in Public Investment Corporation (PIC) corruption.
Lebashe Investment Group‚ Harith General Partners and Fund Managers and former deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi are among the applicants who took Holomisa to court after he wrote an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa implicating them in alleged PIC looting.
In his June letter to Ramaphosa‚ Holomisa stated: "Mr President‚ these companies and individuals have links — past and present‚ directly and indirectly — with the PIC. It makes for uncomfortable reading when one considers the possibility of a very complicated and opaque scheme that will put at risk the Government Employees Pension Fund."
Lebashe chief investment officer Warren Wheatley has categorically denied that there is any truth to Holomisa’s claims‚ and also that the PIC has provided any funding as part of the mooted empowerment deal between EOH and Lebashe.
"No deal with EOH has been concluded and the PIC has not provided any funding. We have commenced consultations with international financiers and various local finance experts to raise funding." Wheatley does‚ however‚ acknowledge that the PIC has on two occasions provided funding "at arm’s length" to Lebashe‚ and says these transactions have resulted in "profits in excess of 30% over three years‚ to the value of some R200m for the beneficiaries of the Government Employees Pension Fund".
-Business Day
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