Dubious Sekunjalo transfers questioned
For the first time, court proceedings have exposed some of the internal workings of Iqbal Survé's empire.
As previously reported, his personal bank accounts are in the process of being terminated by Nedbank along with the business accounts of 43 entities related to the broader Sekunjalo Group.
Entities affected by Nedbank’s move include Premier Fishing and nine of its subsidiaries, the Independent Media Consortium and its media operations, Sekunjalo Investment Holdings and Sagarmatha.
An amaBhungane investigation reveals that a multitude of suspicious or unexplained transaction queries were attached to an affidavit by Nedbank's chief legal counsel, Zanele Mngadi, alongside Sekunjalo responses that Nedbank, in some instances, labelled ‘odd’ or ‘unsatisfactory’.
Some involve what at first glance appears to be the use of company funds for personal affairs, while others involved politically-exposed persons receiving ‘loans’ or ‘donations’.
One particularly suspicious transaction was the transfer of R25m from the African News Agency (ANA) to Survé's personal account, which Sekunjalo initially said was to fund Survé's divorce settlement in August 2016.
The court records show that on 28 July last year, Nedbank addressed a letter to the news service, which was launched in 2015 to replace the defunct SA Press Agency.
From the outset, ANA's main asset was the astounding R357m cash paid by the China Africa Development Fund for a mere 5% shareholding in the fledgling company.
‘R25m was paid by ANA to Dr Surve's personal account as a payment towards his divorce settlement. Why did Africa News Agency fund this settlement?’ Nedbank inquired.
Survé's sister (and Sekunjalo executive), Aziza Amod, replied: ‘Dr Surve was concerned that some of the requested information in the letter is private and confidential. He indicated that he would send you an e-mail separately about this confidential information.’
The same day, Survé wrote to Nedbank that his sister had got it wrong and the payment into his personal account was actually ‘in lieu of an intercompany loan between ANA and Sekunjalo Investment Holdings’.
‘For the record, Aziza indicated at no stage did she mention a divorce settlement,’ Survé added.
amaBhungane notes that this was untrue.
An e-mail Aziza sent to Nedbank on 15 April in response to Nedbank's initial query clearly labels the transaction, ‘Dr Ml Surve: settlement agreement spouse’.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
