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Disciplinary committee chair dismisses application for recusals of two committee members. 00:01
About 18 000 investors invested an estimated R5bn in Sharemax Investmentâs schemes. Image: Moneyweb
The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba) disciplinary hearing against the three former auditors to the failed Sharemax Investments property syndication schemes is set to continue.
This follows a decision by Advocate Anthea Platt, chair of the disciplinary hearing, dismissing an application by Advocate Mike Maritz, appearing for the three auditors, for the recusal of Suren Sooklal and Horton Griffiths, two members of the disciplinary hearing committee.
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Says it could be an exercise in futility to continue with the matter. 00:01
Mike Maritz has raised questions about the independence of the independent regulatory boardâs disciplinary committee members. Image: Shutterstock
The actual or perceived bias of two members of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba) disciplinary committee in the disciplinary hearing against three former auditors of Sharemax has made the case a nullity, argued advocate Mike Maritz.
A nullity in law is defined as something which may be treated as if it did not exist or never happened.
Maritz, who is appearing for Jacques Andre van der Merwe, Danie Dreyer and Petrus Johannes Jacobus Bekker, said this during an application this week for the recusal of Sorenzo Sooklal and Horton Griffiths, two members of the disciplinary committee hearing the case.
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‘In the way it was constructed, there was always value.’ 00:01
Image: Shutterstock
Weavind & Weavind director Eckaard Le Roux, the attorney for Sharemax, has refuted suggestions that the property syndication company was a Ponzi or pyramid scheme.
Giving evidence during an Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba) disciplinary hearing against the former auditors of Sharemax this week, Le Roux said media reports claimed that what Sharemax was doing was in contravention of the Banks Act.
âIt was unlawful, it was illegal. Some reports even went as far as saying it was a Ponzi scheme. I donât think [that] is correct.
Roy Cokayne A view of the interior of the half-built Villa Retail Park in Pretoria. Image: Moneyweb The independence of an expert witness has been brought into question at an Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba) disciplinary hearing against the former auditors of the failed Sharemax property syndication scheme. This follows Brian Smith, who has 45 years’ experience in the accounting field and is Irba’s expert witness in the case, confirming last week that he was a member of Irba’s investigation committee from 2004 until 2016 and chair of this committee from 2011 until 2016. Smith further admitted that during the time he chaired this committee, it concluded the investigations into the conduct of the three audit.