Bain & Co appeals to Treasury to overturn decade-long ban

Global consultancy firm Bain & Company South Africa has appealed to the South African Revenue Services (SARS), National Treasury and the ministry of finance to overturn a decade long ban that prevents it from doing business with South Africa.

Ban

National Treasury slapped Bain with a 10-year ban last month, preventing it from tendering for government contracts in the country because of its “corrupt and fraudulent practices” at the SA Revenue Services (SARS).

ALSO READ: Bain & Co ‘restricted’ from tendering government contracts due to corruption at Sars

Former Bain official, whistleblower Athol Williams, gave details to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture about how the consultancy firm had been instrumental by facilitating corruption at Sars under former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure.

Bain disagreed with the 10-year ban, and now wants it lifted.

‘Regrets’

“As a firm, we deeply regret the mistakes made leading up to and including our work with Sars between 2015 and 2017. These specific mistakes include significant errors in the procurement and execution of our work at SARS.

“Lapses in leadership by Vittorio Massone, Bain South Africa’s former office head, who was not truthful with the Nugent Commission or with us. Failures in management oversight which enabled these actions to take place and ignored red flags raised by both local and global leaders in our firm,” it said.  

Lacking protocols

Bain said it lacked specific protocols for working with government and the public sector, and did not provide further testimony to the Nugent Commission from those who worked with Massone.

“We accept that there must be consequences for these mistakes. We also fully recognise and support the government’s responsibility in holding companies to account for the role they may have played in State Capture.

“However, singling out an individual company based on unproven allegations and without due process is concerning. We believe that the decision to restrict Bain SA is fundamentally flawed,” Bain said.

New leadership

Bain added that its new South African leadership is determined to make sure that the events of the past can never be repeated.

“We will continue reaching out to key stakeholders, including government, business leaders and civil society, to engage openly and honestly on a way forward to help rebuild a better business environment and, ultimately, a better South Africa,” Bain said.

ALSO READ: Amended state capture report released