Judge rules for AYO against PIC in communications subpoena matter
Cape Town - Western Cape High Court Judge Ashley Binns-Ward has set aside the Public Investment Corporation’s (PIC) request to subpoena all communications Sekunjalo Investment Holdings and 3 Laws Capital had with JSE-listed AYO Technology Solutions (AYO).
In a brief order delivered before the resumption of the main case featuring the PIC and AYO, the judge said that the application by the PIC was set aside.
“The PIC and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), as the first and second respondents, shall be liable jointly and severally to pay AYO’s cost of suit,” reads the order.
The application to have the subpoena request dismissed was made on Tuesday by senior counsel Anton Katz on behalf of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (Sekunjalo) and 3 Laws Capital.
The application concerned a subpoena issued to them by the PIC, requesting all communications the two entities had with AYO.
Making the application, Katz had argued that the subpoena should be set aside as it was too broad and thin on specificity, while senior counsel Vincent Maleka defended the application on the PIC’s behalf.
Present to hear the decision was AYO Technology Solutions chairperson Dr Wallace Mgoqi.
When the main matter resumed, AYO senior counsel Nazeer Cassim’s cross-examination of the PIC’s first witness, Victor Seanie continued
Cassim showed Seanie, who worked at the PIC as an assistant portfolio manager at the time, an internal memo written by the PIC’s legal department in December 2017 saying the overall legal risk of the subscription agreement entered into with AYO was low.
Seanie was next shown a December 15, 2017 document he wrote requesting to waive due diligence approval on the deal, which he admitted to signing.
The other documents Cassim showed Seanie included one in which the PIC’s portfolio management committee (PMC) resolved to approve the acquisition of AYO shares worth R4.3 billion.
Seanie claimed in court that the PMC was just “rubber-stamping” an already agreed to deal.
This document was signed by Seanie’s immediate superior, Sunil Varghese, who testified at the Mpati Commission of Inquiry that he thought the price was reasonable.
Seanie also told the court yesterday that he believed Varghese gave the commission false evidence and said: “I don’t think he believed that.”
Earlier, Seanie had confirmed to the court that then PIC chief executive Dr Dan Matjila had the authority to sign investment deals up to R10bn that could be ratified by the PMC afterwards.
In the afternoon session, the PIC called its second witness, British Telecom SA (BTSA) managing director Bertrandt Delport, who was BTSA internal legal counsel in 2017.
He was led by PIC counsel Duncan Wild.
Delport began his testimony by telling the court of a threatening phone call he received on Wednesday night from a number and a person he did not know.
He said the anonymous caller, who said he was a “friend of a friend”, told him to testify honestly when he took the stand or “there would be consequences”.
Asked by the judge if he had reported the matter to the police, Delport said he hadn’t, and the judge advised that he should do so.
The matter was adjourned until Monday morning.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za