The shocking extent of the looting of VBS and the lack of oversight by the PIC can only be resolved if the people who are tasked with performing the oversight function are also held personally accountable.
This is obvious from the answers that the FF Plus received in response to its parliamentary questions regarding VBS and the oversight function of the PIC and the trustees of the Government Employee Pension Fund.
The parliamentary answer regarding the PIC and the Government Employee Pension Fund’s oversight function identifies various committees and processes that are supposed to ensure that investments are made in a responsible manner.
In addition to the PIC Board, there is the Investment Committee that monitors all the PIC’s investments as well as the Valuation Subcommittee that monitors all unlisted investments. Furthermore, the PIC also delegated two directors to serve as directors on the VBS board. It is, however, clear that none of these structures and processes helped in any way to expose the risks and fraud in VBS. On the contrary, the two delegated directors participated in the looting of VBS.
Even though Section 140 of the Financial Sector Regulation Act offers indemnity against prosecution to persons if they disclose information that may incriminate them so as to ensure that whistleblowers are properly protected, it only applies after the irregularities and offences were already committed.
After all, the best cure is prevention and in this case, personal accountability is the best medicine.
It means that people who are appointed by the PIC as PIC directors, members of the Investment Committee and the Valuation Subcommittee as well as directors who serve on the boards of entities in which the PIC has investments must all be held personally accountable in cases where they are aware of irregularities and offences, but do nothing about it.
They must be liable in this way so that they could forfeit all their assets, including their pension. That will surely deter people with questionable motives from accepting such a risky position and it will ensure that people of good character who have nothing to hide will take up the responsibility.
The fact that you could lose all your money, including your pension, will serve as motivation not to accept the position if you have ulterior motives and it will also serve to motivate those who do fill these positions to immediately report all irregularities.
The FF Plus posed questions in this regard to the minister in order to determine whether the principle of personal accountability can be applied.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Adv Anton Alberts on FF Plus
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