It seems there has been an attempt by the Public Investment Corp (PIC) to play fast and loose with monies of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), its major client, and very few have noticed. The particular matter, which concerns unlisted company SA Home Loans (SAHL), begs inquiry by the PIC commission led by retired judge Lex Mpati. The experience at SAHL invites examination into whether there were similarly curious elements in transactions that might have been avoided had the PIC been required to seek approval from the GEPF trustees. It also raises broader questions of how the PIC selects BEE partners to co-invest with the GEPF; and, in this instance, the real motive for a PIC instruction to an investee company that it pay R45m to a third party that had added zero value to a BEE transaction. That the claim for payment of R45m was eventually negated is to the credit of Standard Bank, not to the PIC. The intended beneficiary of the R45m was one Kholofelo Maponya. For backgro...

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