LETTER: Kwinana blot on profession

Former SAA board member Yakhe Kwinana, who has been arrested on fraud charges and granted bail, is a chartered accountant (CA) who has disgraced the profession and the SA regulatory bodies — the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants and Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba) — that supposedly oversee this once-respected profession (Ex-SAA board member Yakhe Kwinana granted R20,000 bail”, November 26).

She has also tarnished the CAs and registered independent external auditors countrywide who have sacrificed and studied to earn their degrees and qualifications.

Exposed at the Zondo state capture inquiry for her fraudulent actions, errors, omissions and disgraceful conduct, it says everything about SA’s failing professional oversight bodies and our legal system that she is still acknowledged as a CA and is not in jail for her crimes.

I don’t know where she served her articles of clerkship, but professional partnerships and the Saica and Irba should all take a long, hard reflective look at what they have overseen and allowed to happen on their watch. They have much to answer for.

The CA (SA) qualification used to stand for something that was highly regarded and professional. No longer. In recent years far too many SA CAs — from KPMG and Deloitte to PWC and other firms — have by their inaction and silence seriously compromised the profession and tarnished the qualification for the rest of us.

The actions of the National Prosecuting Authority to charge and punish Kwinana must be supported through clear, overt and public support from Irba and Saica. They should make their voices heard and act to make an example of the whole rotten basket of “professional” individuals — accountants, auditors, lawyers, engineers and directors — who by their actions or silence enabled state capture on an industrial scale.

Mark Lowe
Durban

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