Aangesien Gelofteland nie op 3 Maart toegang tot die internet gehad het nie, plaas ons nou hierdie interessante uitbreiding van die artikel oor Saambou se stigting.

1943: SAAMBOU (PERMANENTE) BOUVERENIGING GESTIG

KULTUURDAGBOEK 3 MAART

Uit Afrikanernood tot stand gebring

Die Tweede Wêreldoorlog was in volle gang toe in 1942 die eerste eie Afrikaanse bouvereniging, die Unie-Bouvereniging, gestig is om in die geweldige woningnood wat in die oorlogsjare ontstaan het, te voorsien. Die naam van hierdie bouvereniging is agt maande later op 3 Maart 1943 verander in Saambou (Permanente) Bouvereniging.

As rede vir die naamsverander is aangevoer die moontike verwarring wat kon ontstaan tussen dié nuwe Afrikaanse bouvereniging en dié van 'n ander bouvereniging wat toe reeds etlike jare bestaan het.

Met die stigting van Saambou Bouvereniging het die Afrikaner se strewe na ekonomiese selfstandigheid en onafhanklikheid, ook op finansiële gebied, positiewe gestalte begin aanneem en is sodoende nog 'n belangrike mylpaal in die ekonomiese geskiedenis van die Afrikaner bereik.

Ingelyks kan daar gesê word dat die Saambou Bouvereniging uit die volk gebore is om die volk te dien. Hoewel die nuwe jong bouvereniging in die ongunstige ekonomiese toestand wat in die oorlogsjare in die land geheers het, dit moeilik gevind het om met reeds gevestigde bouverenigings mee te ding, is die vertroue van die publiek geleidelik gewen en het die Vereniging van krag tot krag gegroei in die na-oorlogsjare.

Onder die bekwame en geïnspireerde leiding van dr MS Louw, die voorsitter, het die Vereniging spoedig gegroei tot een van die ses grootste bouverenigings in Suid-Afrika met totale bates van meer as R100 miljoen in die laat sestigerjare. In April 1970 het Saambou (Permanente) Bouvereniging geamalgameer met Nasionale Bouvereniging om die nuwe Afrikaanse bouverenigingsreus Saambou-Nasionaal te vorm.

Die bitter einde

Die Afrikaner beleef reeds vir etlike jare dat volksvreemdes self of hulle belange in voorheen Afrikaner-organisasies soos Santam, Sanlam en Absa (wat Volkskas ingesluk het) oorheers.

Daar was die vernietiging van die identiteit van Afrikanerbanke en finansiële instellings deur hul kliëntebasis te verander. Daar is die keldering van Afrikaner finansiële instellings soos Saambou (te midde van gissing dat sekeres in die bank gegryp en gehardloop het).

Daar is die vreemde gedrag van staatsinstellings, veronderstel om sulke banke en finansiële instellings van hulp te wees.

Toe Saambou nie kon voortgaan om besigheid te doen nie is dit gedeeltelik deur Eerste Nasionale Bank oorgeneem. Twee amptelike redes is aanvanklik vir Saambou se ondergang genoem: personeel wat toegelaat is om geld te leen en aandele te koop, maar veral wetgewing vir die mikroleenbedryf. Saambou het sy mikroleen-afdeling toegelaat om ‘n enorme bedrag slegte skuld te versamel. (Die mikroleen-bedryf soos dit in Suid-Afrika ontwikkel het, op sig self, is ‘n tameletjie. Baie meer as Saambou in die finansiële bedryf in die land het met ywer ingeklim om voordeel te trek uit die swart aspoester van Afrika, so totaal vreemd aan die ysere dissipline wat ‘n tien jaar of meer gelede in die Westers-gerigte finansiële wêreld vaardig was.

Die Registrateur van Banke tydens die Saambou-krisis, mnr. Christo Wiese het die Reserwebank ronduit daarvan beskuldig dat hy Saambou kon red. Hy het bygevoeg dat die Saamboukrisis Tesourie se skuld is (Rapport, 20 Julie 2003).

Volgens hom sou Tesourie sonder oorleg opgetree het in die bankkrisis van 2002. Kenmerkend van Saambou se ondergang was die vreespsigose wat deur middel van die nuusmedia aangeblaas is.

Wiese kla daar “was nie indringende samesprekings oor sekere aangeleenthede nie”. Tesourie se besluit dat Saambou in kuratorskap geplaas moes word, ondanks skynbare reddingstoue wat gereed gekry is deur die Reserwebank en finansiële instellings, is volgens hom een so ‘n aangeleentheid. Dit het tot wantroue gelei en die deposante het reusebedrae geld uit Saambou onttrek.

As ‘n mens noseweek (Maart 2005) lees, sou jy Wiese van krasse onderbeklemtoning kan verdink. En van erger dinge... Die tydskrif betrek Wiese só (nadat hy verklaar het PricewaterhouseCoopers is nooit tot verantwoording geroep vir die ondertekening van Saambou se bedrieglike jaarstate nie): ”Opvallend was die nood van ander spelers, soos Investec en die Registrateur van Banke (opsteller se kursivering), groot genoeg om hul spore te bedek, en die omkoopgeld aan andere, soos Firstrand, beduidend genoeg om die toesmeerdery te verseker waarin die ouditeure van die hoek losgekom het.

“Regeringspoke beweer amptelike samespanning en toesmeerdery,” skryf die geelperstydskrif onder die opskrif, Saambou leaks continue, en suggereer dan ‘n stinkende blik wurms waarin die kommunis en later president van die Reserwebank Gill Marcus, self glo geen kleine klank sou afgee nie.

Die berig volg ná ‘n soortgelyke berig in noseweek waarin met groot stelligheid verklaar is die Reserwebank en Tesourie “trek ‘n doek van geheimsinnigheid oor ‘n spesiale verslag van die ouditeure KPMG, wat die ineenstorting en gevolglike kuratorskap van die bank behandel”. KPGM is glo vasbeslote om die alarmmaker oor die verslag vas te trek. Die KPMG-verslag van 520 bladsye bevat glo getuienis van massale verkeerde optrede deur uitvoerende amptenare van die Reserwebank.

Die tydskrif sou ook in besit gekom het van ‘n geheime intelligensieverslag wat vroeg in 2003 saamgestel is. Die verslag vertel van ‘n verstommende toesmeerdery, geïnisieer deur Investec en sy ouditeure KPMG, “geteken en verseël deur die toenmalige adjunk-president van die Reserwebank Gill Marcus”.

Marcus,later terug as president, het die bank net ‘n jaar later verlaat en gesê die rede vir haar haastige vertrek is dat haar “kontrak” nie hernu is nie.

“Partye tot die geheime reëling het ingesluit Investec – voorgehou in die intelligensieverslag as dat hy ‘n paar moontlik bevraagtekenbare skuiwe gedoen het om sy R2 miljard blootstelling aan Saambou te bedek; FirstRand Bank (wat ‘n profyt van ‘n miljard of twee sou gemaak het); die Nasionale Tesourie (wat sy verliese en onbekwaamhede van die publiek moes hou); en, KPMG, wat lnvestec se ouditeure was en, effektief – en, gemaklik vir lnvestec, doen die intelligensieverslag aan die hand – Saambou se kurators.

“Nog ‘n groot bevoordeelde van die toesmeerdery is PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC): volgens die intelligensiedokument laat die KPMG-verslag ‘moontlik beduidende herwinning van verliese gely blyk (deur die Reserwebank as onderskrywer van die transaksie) deur die aangestelde ouditeure, PricewaterhouseCoopers’… Die intelligensieverslag voorspel profeties:’…die moontlikheid dat die dokument (van KPMG) nooit volledig voorgelê, uitgevoer of verklaar sal word deur die Reserwebank, Tesourie of die Kurator nie.”

noseweek skryf toe dat PricewaterhouseCoopers nog glad nie tot orde geroep is vir sy ondertekening van Saambou se bedrieglike jaarstate nie.

Die intelligensie-ontleding maak in sy opsomming gewag van ‘n beweerde samespanning tussen die Reserwebank, Tesourie en kurator, John Louw, in FirstRand Bank “se komplekse transaksies”. Die kompleksie transaksies sou effek gekry het deur die regstreekse deelname, intieme kennis en regstreekse mandate van die betrokkenes.

Die Skerpioene-ondersoekeenheid het glo reeds twee ondersoeke gedoen ná die uitbring van die KPMG-verslag, voorspelbaar sonder enige beduidende resultate.

Die mense wat glo met binne-inligting oor die debakel sit was die direkteur-generaal van finansies toe, Lesetja Kganyago, ‘n Reserwebank-span onder aanvoering van die spokesperson for the South African Communist Party Gill Marcus, en die hoofbestuur van FirstRand Bank onder aanvoering van Paul Harris.

Die netto-resultaat was dat ‘n Afrikanerbank vir ‘n skrale sent – en die Joods-beheerde nuusmedia het groot gewag daarvan gemaak – aan Eerste Nasionale Bank verkoop is. Eerste Nasionale Bank het onder leiding van Chris Ball in die 1980’s met bravade aangekondig dat hy die ANC se bankier is. Maar diegene wat vir die wel en wee van Saambou verantwoordelik is, was so afgestomp en blasé oor die bitter pil wat die Afrikaner moet sluk, hulle kon nie kik of kwaak nie.

In die nawee van die Saambou-krisis het Die Geldmag groot geoes. Altesaam 20 kleiner banke het hul lisensies gekanselleer. Vier groot banke sit nou met feitlik al die geld wat aan die kleiner banke onttrek is.

KPMG

KPMG, wat ‘n prominente rol in die Saambou-saga gespeel het, lig in sy wikipedia-artikel die leser in oor sekere “omstredenhede”: Tax shelter fraud[edit]

Main article: KPMG tax shelter fraud

In 2003, the IRS issued summonses to KPMG for information about certain tax shelters and their investors.^[38] In February 2004, the US Justice Department commenced a criminal inquiry.^[38] The United States member firm, KPMG LLP, was accused by the United States Department of Justice of fraud in marketing abusive tax shelters. KPMG fired or forced the retirement of over a dozen who were involved.^[39] KPMG LLP admitted criminal wrongdoing in creating fraudulent tax shelters to help wealthy clients avoid $2.5 billion in taxes between 1996 and 2002, and agreed to pay $456 million in penalties to avoid indictment. Under the deferred prosecution agreement, KPMG LLP would not face criminal prosecution if it complied with the terms of its agreement with the government. On 3 January 2007, the criminal conspiracy charges against KPMG were dropped.^[40]

Various[edit]

In 2003, KPMG agreed to pay $125 million and $75 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the firm's audits of Rite Aid and Oxford Health Plans Inc., respectively.^[41]

In 2004, KPMG agreed to pay $115 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the collapse of software company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV.^[42][43]

In 2006, Fannie Mae sued KPMG for malpractice for approving years of erroneous financial statements.^[44]

In February 2007, KPMG Germany was investigated for ignoring questionable payments in the Siemens bribery case.^[45] In November 2008, the Siemens Supervisory Board recommended changing auditors from KPMG to Ernst & Young.^[46]

In March 2008, KPMG was accused of enabling "improper and imprudent practices" at New Century Financial, a failed mortgage company,^[47] and KPMG agreed to pay $80 million to settle suits from Xerox shareholders over manipulated earnings reports.^[48]

It was announced in December 2008 that two of Tremont Group's Rye Select funds, audited by KPMG, had $2.37 billion invested with the Madoff "Ponzi scheme."^[49] Class action suits were filed.^[50]

In August 2010, it was reported by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to the Swedish accountancy regulator after HQ Bank was forced into involuntary liquidation after the Financial Supervisory Authority revoked all its licences for breach of banking regulations.^[51]

In August 2011, KPMG conducted due diligence work on Hewlett Packard's $11.1 billion acquisition of the British software company Autonomy. In November 2012 HP announced an $8.8 billion write off due to "serious accounting improprieties" committed by Autonomy management prior to the acquisition.^[52][53]

According to an independent panel formed to investigate irregular payments made by Olympus which reported in December 2011, KPMG's affiliate in Japan did not identify fraud at the company.^[54]

In April 2013, Scott London, a former KPMG LLP partner in charge of KPMG's US Los Angeles-based Pacific Southwest audit practice, admitted passing on stock tips about clients, including Herbalife, Skechers, and other companies, to his friend Bryan Shaw, a California jewelry-store owner.^[55] In return Shaw gave London $70,000 as well as gifts that included a $12,000 Rolex watch and concert tickets.^[56][55] On 6 May, Shaw agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He also agreed to pay around $1.3 million in restitution, and to cooperate with the government as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.^[57] This scandal led KPMG to resign as auditor for Herbalife and Sketchers.^[58]

In 2015, KPMG was accused by the Canada Revenue Agency of tax evasion schemes: "The CRA alleges that the KPMG tax structure was in reality a 'sham' that intended to deceive the taxman."^[59]

In 2016, the Canada Revenue Agency was found to have offered an amnesty to KPMG clients caught using an offshore tax-avoidance scheme on the Isle of Man.^[60]

In 2017, KPMG terminated five partners in its audit practice, including the head of its audit practice in the US, after an investigation of advanced confidential knowledge of planned audit inspections by its Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.^[61][62] This followed criticism about KPMG's failure to uncover illegal sales practices at Wells Fargo or potential corruption at FIFA, the governing international body of football.^[62] It was reported in 2017 that KPMG had the highest number of deficiencies, among the Big Four, cited by its regulator in the previous two years.^[63] This includes two annual inspections that were compromised as a result of advanced access to inspection information. In March 2019, David Middendorf and Jeffrey Wada, co-defendants in the scandal, were convicted.^[64]

In 2017, KPMG paid a $6.2 million fine to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for inadequacies in its audit of the financial statements of oil and gas company, Miller Energy Resources.^[65]

In November 2017, 91 partners of KPMG faced contempt proceedings in Hong Kong High Court, as China Medical Technologies (CMED) liquidators investigating a $400 million fraud took action against KPMG with regard to its refusal to honor a February 2016 court order to produce Chinese working papers, correspondence, and records to the liquidators.^{[66][67][68][69][70]} The liquidators are asking that 91 defendants be held in contempt of court, which could result in criminal penalties, or weekly fines.^[66] KPMG had issued written audit reports for CMED from 2003 to 2008, and was replaced by PwC Zhong Tian in August 2009.^[67] "Perhaps locking up 91 KPMG partners over Christmas may spur the firms to find a solution to this problem", said Professor Paul Gillis of Peking University's Guanghua School of Management.^[66]

In November 2018, the Sultanate of Oman's Capital Market Authority (CMA) suspended KPMG from auditing entities regulated by the CMA for a period of one year after discovering major financial and accounting irregularities in the entities' records.^[71][72][73]

In 2019 KPMG were fined £5 million by the Financial Reporting Council for misconduct shortly after the takeover of the Britannia Building Society by The Co-operative Bank, particularly relating to the valuation of Britannia's commercial loans and other liabilities. The takeover led to the near collapse of The Co-operative Bank.^[74]

Carillion audit role[edit]

In January 2018, it was announced that KPMG, auditor of collapsed UK construction firm Carillion, would have its role examined by the Financial Reporting Council,^[75] (FRC) and it was summoned to give evidence before two House of Commons select committees on 22 February 2018.^[76]

On 13 February 2018, the 'Big 4' accountancy firms, including KPMG, were described by MP Frank Field as "feasting on what was soon to become a carcass" after collecting fees of £72m for Carillion work during the years leading up to its collapse.^[77] KPMG was singled out for particular criticism for signing off Carillion's last accounts before a profit warning in July 2017: "Either KPMG failed to spot the warning signs, or its judgement was clouded by its cosy relationship with the company and the multimillion-pound fees it received," said MP Rachel Reeves.^[77] Two out of three former Carillion finance directors had also worked for KPMG.^[77]

KPMG defended itself, saying that in the construction industry "an accumulation of adverse events [...] can quite quickly cause a precipitous decline." KPMG chairman and senior partner Bill Michael said: "It does not follow automatically from a company collapse either that the opinion of management was wrong, or that the auditor did a bad job."^[77]

On 22 February 2018, MPs contested evidence from KPMG (in one exchange MP Peter Kyle told KPMG partner Peter Meehan: "I would not hire you to do an audit of the contents of my fridge").^[78] Rachel Reeves, chair of the business select committee, said:

Auditing is a multi-million-pound business for the Big Four. On this morning's evidence from KPMG and Deloitte, these audits appear to be a colossal waste of time and money, fit only to provide false assurance to investors, workers and the public. [...] Carillion staff and investors could see the problems at the company but those responsible - auditors, regulators, and, ultimately, the directors – did nothing to stop Carillion being driven off a cliff.^[79]

The final report of the Parliamentary inquiry into Carillion's collapse, published on 16 May 2018,^[80] criticised KPMG for its "complicity" in the company's financial reporting practices:

KPMG audited Carillion for 19 years, pocketing £29 million in the process. Not once during that time did they qualify their audit opinion on the financial statements, instead signing off the figures put in front of them by the company's directors. Yet, had KPMG been prepared to challenge management, the warning signs were there in highly questionable assumptions about construction contract revenue and the intangible asset of goodwill accumulated in historic acquisitions. These assumptions were fundamental to the picture of corporate health presented in audited annual accounts. In failing to exercise—and voice—professional scepticism towards Carillion's aggressive accounting judgements, KPMG was complicit in them. It should take its own share of responsibility for the consequences.^[81]

The select committee chairs (Frank Field and Rachel Reeves) called for a complete overhaul of Britain's corporate governance regime, saying the government had "lacked the decisiveness or bravery" to do so, accused the big four accounting firms of operating as a "cosy club", with KPMG singled out for its "complicity" in signing off Carillion's "increasingly fantastical figures".^[80]

KPMG said:

We believe we conducted our audit appropriately. However, it's only right that following a corporate collapse of such size and significance, the necessary investigations are performed. Auditing large and complex businesses involves many judgments and we will continue to cooperate with the FRC's ongoing investigation. ... We welcome any future review of our profession. If we consider how the profession has changed in the last decade […] it is clear there is a need for us to look closely at our business models.^[80]

In a June 2018 report on audit standards across eight accounting firms, the FRC identified "failure to challenge management and show appropriate scepticism across their audits." It highlighted a decline in the quality of work undertaken by the Big Four, with KPMG performing the worst. There had, the FRC said, been an "unacceptable deterioration" in the quality of KPMG's work, and the FRC would scrutinise KPMG more closely as a result.^[82] In October 2018, the FRC proposed reforms to tackle the "underlying falling trust in business and the effectiveness of audit," and severely rebuked KPMG.^[83]

In November 2018, KPMG said it would no longer undertake consultancy work for FTSE 350 Index-listed companies if it was also auditing them, in an effort to "remove even the perception of a possible conflict" of interest.^[84]

The Carillion investigation followed FRC investigations into KPMG's role at HBOS, Quindell and The Co-operative Bank. In July 2018, the FRC started an investigation into KPMG's audit role at collapsed drinks merchant Conviviality.^[85]

In January 2019, KPMG announced it had suspended the partner that led Carillion's audit and three members of his team,^[86] and the FRC opened a second investigation into how KPMG audited Carillion's accounts.^[87] In May 2020, the FT reported that the official receiver was preparing to sue KPMG for £250m over alleged negligence in its audits of Carillion.^[88]

The FRC's first report, which found a number of breaches, was delivered to KPMG in September 2020; the FRC was awaiting a KPMG response before deciding whether to take enforcement action.^[89]