Anger after Bain ban lifted

The UK Government has lifted a ban against global consultancy Bain & Company from bidding for state work seven months after imposing the sanction, reports Fin24. The government initially announced the ban in August 2022. This was after the Zondo Commission found that Bain's South African branch colluded with former President Jacob Zuma and (SA Reserve Bank - SARS) boss Tom Moyane to ‘capture’ the tax agency. The UK Government yesterday said Bain and its affiliates outside of SA are no longer excluded from bidding for state work. However, Bain SA will remain excluded until 4 January 2025, given the findings made by commission chair Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. ‘Bain & Company have co-operated with our investigations, and have provided considerable additional information on their self-cleansing actions. They have also agreed to a period of rigorous monitoring for a minimum of two years, during which their continued compliance will be assessed,’ the UK government said. ‘This decision is subject to a regular and thorough period of close monitoring, for a minimum of two years, so we can be satisfied that the company continues to uphold the measures they have now put in place.’ SA’s National Treasury in September also banned Bain from tendering for public sector contracts for a period of 10 years for engaging in ‘corrupt and fraudulent practices’ related to its contract at SARS.

The UK Government said it will review any new information, including ‘any potential reconsideration' by Pretoria of its decision to ban Bain SA. Lord Peter Hain, a former UK Cabinet Minister previously claimed Bain was employing staff in its London office who ‘colluded’ with Zuma. Hain said in a statement yesterday that, ‘rather than apply more pressure to advance the cause of justice, the UK government has now copped out and lifted the ban on Bain it rightly imposed last year at my request’. ‘Bain has launched a global spin campaign to portray itself as the victim, while it holds onto the millions earned from its public contracts in South Africa, deemed “unlawful” by the country's Chief Justice. 'Not one but two judicial commissions of inquiry found Bain to have colluded with former President Zuma to undermine the country's state institutions, paving the way for public funds to be siphoned off into private pockets,’ Hain said in reference to the Nugent Commission that investigated SARS. Bain received R167m in fees over 27 months from SARS, which it has subsequently repaid, with interest, reports Fin24. It however said the inquiry report mischaracterised the role it played at SARS, and wrote to SARS and the Minister of Finance to ask that the ban be overturned.

A bid to hold three ex-partners of fallen PR giant Bell Pottinger liable for its disastrous campaign for the Gupta family in SA has been closed, reports Fin24. The UK Insolvency Service has said it will no longer pursue a case to have former partners James Henderson, Victoria Geoghegan and Nick Lambert disqualified from acting as company directors. ‘The Insolvency Service keeps all its cases under regular review to ensure we are delivering the best outcomes for the public, and the decision was made that it was no longer in the public interest to proceed with this claim’, said a spokesperson. Henderson, who served as Bell Pottinger's CEO when it was working with Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments, also confirmed the case had been shelved. The service started legal proceedings against the three –who are all still in the PR industry – in 2020. Its initial disqualification claim argued that the conduct of the three on the Gupta account ‘contributed in part to the failure of Bell Pottinger’ and brought the PR industry in the UK into disrepute.