Probe into sale of oil reserves 'shoddy'
Energy Minister David Mahlobo says the law firm conducting the investigation had a relationship with the buyer of 10-million barrels of oil sold by the Strategic Fuel Fund
The investigation into the sale of 10-million barrels of the country’s strategic fuel reserves by the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) conducted by an international legal firm was not satisfactory and a new one had to be instituted, Energy Minister David Mahlobo said on indicated Tuesday. He told members of Parliament’s portfolio committee on energy that he wanted the new investigation to be concluded as a matter of urgency though could not give a time frame for this. The new investigative team would evaluate whether the report by the international legal law firm Allen & Overy was useful or not. The sale of the oil reserves in December 2015 and January 2016 was subsequently found to be illegal because Treasury approval was not obtained. It has been estimated that a loss of R3.3bn would be suffered as a result of the sale, which took place when oil prices were very low.Mahlobo said it was disappointing that the international legal firm had done a shoddy job and had not interviewed all those...
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