Billions lost in sale of strategic oil reserve
Leaked audit report shatters claim of stock rotation
South Africa will suffer a loss of at least R3.3-billion because of the illegal sale of the country's strategic fuel reserves in December 2015 and January last year, a confidential forensic audit report the government has kept under wraps for months has concluded. The audit report, which has been leaked to Business Times, officially gives the lie to former energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson's repeated statements that the fuel stock was not sold but "rotated" - the industry term for replacing the fuel. In fact, South Africa will now have to cough up about R6.483-billion to replace the 10million barrels of strategic crude oil sold. Contacted on Thursday and confronted with the difference between her version of events and the audit findings, Joemat-Pettersson said: "I have not seen the audit report, so I cannot comment on it." In July, the report, by auditing firm KPMG, was provided to Joemat-Pettersson's successor, Mmamoloko Kubayi - who in turn was removed on Tuesday after only s...
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