Gigaba’s SAA bail-out may be unlawful, Parliament told
Parliament’s senior legal adviser warns the use of ‘emergency’ provisions in the Public Finance Management Act is not justifiable
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s use of "emergency" provisions in the Public Finance Management Act to bail out South African Airways (SAA) at the end of September is not justifiable and could be unlawful, says an opinion drafted by Parliament’s senior legal adviser, Frank Jenkins. Jenkins submitted the opinion on Monday at the request of the portfolio committee on finance, which will discuss the matter on Wednesday. "It appears that section 16 [of the act] is intended for use where good financial planning and management could not avert the need for unusual expenditure. In my respectful view it appears that the expenditure was foreseeable and as such, not unusual or atypical," Jenkins said. Since it was a requirement that the section 16 report be referred to the auditor-general within 14 days of being made, it was up to the auditor-general’s office to make a finding whether the allocation was in compliance with section 16 of the act, Jenkins said. Gigaba’s use of section 16 to dip i...
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