Standing Committee on Finance turns a blind eye to the controversy surrounding Sagarmatha Technologies Limited

24 April 2018

Last week, I wrote to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance, Yunus Carrim, requesting a special hearing on the controversy surrounding the Public Investment Corporation, Sagarmatha Technologies Limited and Ayo Technology Solutions in Parliament.

However, today the finance committee reject my proposal for a special hearing following an intervention from the Deputy President of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Floyd Shivambu, who argued that the Public Investment Corporation had not actually invested in Sagarmatha Technologies Limited.

The suggestion that questions on the controversy could be raised at a general meeting with the Public Investment Corporation sometime in the future is ridiculous not least because no such meeting has been scheduled in the second term of Parliament.

The fact is that Standing Committee on Finance is turning a blind eye to the controversy surrounding the Public Investment Corporation, Sagarmatha Technologies Limited and Ayo Technology Solutions.

Which is a dereliction of duty given the massive exposure of the Government Employees Pension Fund to Independent Media, which was to be part of the Sagarmatha Technologies Limited.

We were assured by Dr Dan Matjila, the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Investment Corporation, when it came to the investment in Independent Media work on an “exit strategy” was underway.

The suspicion was that the “exit strategy”, referred to by Dr Dan Matjila, was Sagarmatha Technologies Limited, will probably never be confirmed, given the blind eye being turned by the Standing Committee on Finance.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 24 April 2018