The treasurer who advised against SAA moving ahead with a dodgy R256 million finance deal with an unlicensed company has been suspended.<\/p>\n
SAA treasurer Cynthia Stimpel has been suspended for \u201cmisconduct\u201d, after she raised questions about the deal with BnP, which the airline was paying three times more than necessary.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Stimpel is the latest in a long line of \u201cdefiant\u201d employees who have been given the chop.<\/p>\n According to a report by BDLive<\/a><\/strong>, SAA has denied that Stimpel’s suspension is in any way related to the finance deal with BnP Capital, but would not give any more detail around it.<\/p>\n In May, Stimpel sent an email to SAA CFO\u00a0Phumeza Nhantsi expressing concern about\u00a0awarding\u00a0R256 million to \u201cboutique financier\u201d, BnP Capital, without going through the appropriate tender processes.<\/p>\n Read:\u00a0Cash-strapped SAA shrugs off tenders in R256 million deal: report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n She said she was uncomfortable with the deal because, if proper tender processes were followed, the services could have been acquired for a third of the price – an important consideration for a company currently running at a massive loss.<\/p>\n Civil action group, Outa, later revealed that BnP Capital had its licence revoked by the Financial Services Board, a fact that should have made them ineligible for the deal in the first place.<\/p>\n SAA has repeatedly come under fire for its operational and spending practices, with claims\u00a0that chairwoman, Myeni is core to the company\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n The SAA chairperson is closely linked to president Jacob Zuma, serving\u00a0as chairwoman of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, and has tightened her grip on SAA over the past few years.<\/p>\n In May,\u00a0head of human resources\u00a0Thuli Mpshe got the chop due to conflict with Myeni – and it is speculated that she had a hand in getting former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene fired<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n SAA paid R23 million in golden handshakes over the past 10 years<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Outa exposes corruption in R256 million SAA deal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Did SAA just admit to massive collusion?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on SAA<\/h3>\n