McKinsey & Co will repay R650 million ($44 million) for contracts it had with South African Airways and state logistics company Transnet SOC Ltd, as it seeks to clear its name in the country.<\/p>\n
The consultancy firm\u2019s chief risk officer, Jean-Christophe Mieszala, will on Thursday testify at a state graft probe. McKinsey said the contracts were carried out together with Regiments Capital, a company associated with the Gupta family, some of whom have refused to return to South Africa from Dubai to face graft charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judicial commission has confirmed there is no information that implicates any current personnel of McKinsey in any corruption or impropriety,\u201d the company said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe repayment decision was made following the Judicial Commission\u2019s recent introduction of documents and information regarding Regiments previously unavailable to our review.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKinsey is one of a number of international companies caught up in South African graft probes mainly targeting firms doing business with state entities. SAP AG and KPMG LLP are two of the companies mentioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commission commends McKinsey for taking the step that it has taken,\u201d it said in a separate statement. \u201cThe Commission urges other companies to follow its lead and do the same in all cases where evidence shows that they have benefited from contracts tainted by corruption, even if they were not party to that corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of the 10 affected contracts, nine were with Transnet and one with SAA. Transnet plans to seek more than R1.2 billion from McKinsey including interest payments, it said, according to News24, an internet news site.<\/p>\n
McKinsey has previously repaid about 1 billion rand to Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, the state power utility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis situation is a source of great regret to McKinsey,\u201d said Kevin Sneader, McKinsey\u2019s global managing partner, in the statement. \u201cOver the past three years, McKinsey has accepted responsibility for the errors of judgment that were made and continues to work hard to make amends.\u201d<\/p>\n