CFO speaks out against Telkom
Telkom‘s suspended chief financial officer, Jacques Schindehütte, has defended his conduct in procuring an interest-free loan, rejecting the company’s claims that he authorized it himself.
This is according to a report from Bloomberg.
The fixed-line operator suspended Jacques Schindehutte in October, pending its disciplinary process over allegations against him. It has said that the suspension was related to personal misconduct, not insider trading.
Schindehutte was granted a loan of $538,000 by Telkom in September 2013, to buy shares in the group. He has since been ordered to pay that money back, after the company admitted that the loan “was granted in a manner that was inconsistent with the provisions of the Companies Act, making the transaction null and void”.
“The board cannot and did not ratify the granting of the loan,” Telkom said in a statement on January 14. “He was actively involved in the processing of this loan and personally oversaw the advancement of the payment of the loan amount to himself,” it said.
According to email correspondence seen by Bloomberg and validated by Schindehutte, however, it has been revealed that Telkom’s chairman and head of its remuneration committee “supported the granting of the loan”.
“It would be unheard of to suggest that I had any influence in granting my loan because the decision was there for HR and the group CEO to make,” Schindehutte told Bloomberg.
“I’ve acted totally appropriately with regard to this loan and I followed the normal process, which includes seeking the authority of my superior manager.”
Schindehutte told the news service that he e-mailed CEO, Sipho Maseko, Chairman Jabu Mabuza and Santie Botha, the head of the remuneration committee, at the end of September, requesting a loan to buy stock in Telkom as a “huge show of confidence” to the market.
It is reported that Mabuza and Botha supported the transaction, via email correspondence.
Maseko was also keen on buying stock, the emails showed, but was prevented from doing so by his broker.
Schindehutte’s disciplinary hearing commenced on Thursday (16 January), with Telkom pointing out that the loan confusion is not related to his suspension.
The group said that his suspension “relates to allegations of personal misconduct leveled against Mr Schindehütte and which came to the Board’s attention through a whistleblower”.
The telco has repeatedly stressed that it is not in a position to comment on any details related to Schindehütte’s hearing until the outcome is decided.
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