Sasfin, the banking and financial services group, said yesterday in its annual report it had commissioned an ongoing independent investigation of the controversial cigarette manufacturer, Gold Leaf Tobacco.
This follows an investigation into suspected financial misconduct at the cigarette producer. On August 26 this year, SA Revenue Services (Sars) issued a statement on its actions against Gold Leaf Tobacco and its associates, who were former clients of its foreign exchange unit in 2016 and 2017.
In its integrated annual report, released yesterday, Sasfin said: "In accordance with our anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism policies and our risk appetite, management closed the accounts of these clients in 2017, and has co-operated fully with the relevant authorities in their investigation.“
Sasfin said it would take any necessary action flowing from these investigations.
Sasfin has since placed two employees on precautionary suspension as it probes their relationship with Gold Leaf.
Gold Leaf and its directors were handed a preservation order by the North Gauteng High Court following a Sars application.
The order will prevent the Zimbabwean-owned company from dissipating realisable assets and thereby frustrating the collection of taxes. Sars applied to the court to issue a preservation order after arguing that Gold Leaf Tobacco Corporation was part of the illicit tobacco industry, and alleging it was cheating the taxman of his dues.
Sasfin said that in an effort to strengthen its financial crime team, it was consolidating its anti-money laundering and fraud investigating capacity.
"The group’s independent compliance function focuses on areas such as banking regulation, anti-money laundering, market conduct, statutory compliance, exchange control and regulatory interaction responsible for mitigating compliance risk.
"The board acknowledges its accountability and provides the necessary guidance regarding managing compliance risk, and ensures it obtains sufficient assurance in this regard and delegates specific oversight responsibility to the directors affairs and nominations committee," it said.
Meanwhile, in the integrated report, Sasfin said that while the legislated minimum wage was R4 020 a month, it was guided by the Labour Research Service amount that represented the median monthly income required to access a collection of goods and services, and participate fully in society.
"The median monthly income for a decent standard of living is R7 911. We are satisfied that all our employees earn significantly more than this. Sasfin remains aware of the need to address the wage gap between junior-level employees and senior executives," Sasfin said.
It said that this year, junior-level employees received a higher percentage of annual increases than management and executives to address this concern.
"We further reviewed and increased the remuneration of those employees who were paid below the minimum of the pay scale, so that no employee earns less than 90% of the minimum of the pay scale.
"The number of employees earning above the maximum of the pay scale reduced from 2021 to 2022, given the increase in pay scales over the past two years," Sasfin said.
The group said Angela Pillay, who tendered her resignation as financial director in January, received a total remuneration of R4.2 million, while Harriet Heymans, who replaced Pillay in April, received a total package of about R900 000.
Sasfin Holdings chief executive Michael Sassoon received a total package of more than R6m, which included a cash package, other benefits and incentive bonuses. In September, he received an incentive bonus of R1.8m.
BUSINESS REPORT