KPMG SA Media Statement |
I want to make the following statement to update our clients and the wider public on the steps KPMG is taking to address the issues raised by various stakeholders regarding the work we previously performed for companies related to the Gupta Family (the Group). From the outset we have taken these allegations extremely seriously and the KPMG South Africa Board immediately initiated a comprehensive review to establish the facts regarding the range of professional services we had delivered.
KPMG South Africa has worked collaboratively with KPMG International (KPMGI) on the review thus far. To re-enforce confidence in the rigour of the review, we have determined KPMGI will independently lead all aspects of the comprehensive review. Accordingly, the review team is now being led by an experienced Senior Partner from the KPMG network, reporting directly to KPMGI’s Global Vice Chair of Quality Risk and Regulatory, as well as to the South African Board.
Norton Rose Fulbright as external Legal Counsel, with support from various experts including appropriate Senior Counsel, continue to provide independent, expert, external views and opinions. All aspects of our work related to the Gupta Group is being robustly reviewed, including client acceptance, execution and the quality of the work. Where any problems or issues are found, those KPMG individuals responsible will be held accountable.
We also note that KPMG has received criticism regarding the ‘SARS Report’. The review being conducted by KPMGI will be extended to include KPMG’s role in this report. It is important to note that the engagement Partner for the SARS project resigned from KPMG in March 2017. As with the above review, all aspects of the engagement, including client acceptance, execution and the quality of the work will be considered.
While the last audit opinions for the Group were signed for the 28 February 2015 year ends, it is now clear that based on publicly-available information, KPMG should have resigned earlier than March 2016 and should have stopped working for the Gupta companies sooner than we did. In my judgement, we were too slow to recognise the wider public interest related to these matters, given the existing socio-political environment in South Africa. We fully understand that our client acceptance and continuance procedures must be improved to take account of this fact.