Hain takes another swipe at law firm

Lord Peter Hain has taken another crack at international law firm Hogan Lovells, which in January he reported to the UK’s Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for allegedly enabling corruption at the SA Revenue Service. The SA-born British politician said at the time that a ‘whitewashed’ report by the law firm had ‘spared’ SARS head Tom Moyane and top executive Jonas Makwakwa from ‘accountability for their complicity in and cover up of serious financial crimes’. In an interview with Fin24 he reportedly complained that while other companies such as UK PR firm Bell Pottinger, KPMG and HSBC have admitted wrongdoing, Hogan Lovells have remained silent. ‘I think nobody should have anything to do with them, I think their clients should withdraw their custom, until they have admitted what they’ve done,’ he is quoted as saying. He pointed out Hogan Lovells had yet to disclose how much they were paid by SARS for the report on Makwakwa and Moyane. ‘They think because they’re clever lawyers, they can get away with it. Well my message is that they can’t, their reputation has already been damaged.’ Hain said the largest repercussion for companies involved in state capture allegations has been loss of business. Bell Pottinger was forced into liquidation and the Financial Times reported that KPMG in the UK has lost 80% of its public sector contracts, since 2015 following several high-profile auditing scandals, including the Guptas. He said all the companies he’s named in the House of Lords contacted him for a meeting because they were worried about loss of business. He says he’s so far refused to meet with Hogan Lovells because they’ve denied wrongdoing.