Trustco fined over mining approval violations

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has fined and publicly censured Namibian holding company Trustco for its failure to get approval from shareholders for a deal that reduced its stake in a Sierra Leone diamond mine, reports News24. Trustco had approached the JSE for a ruling on the matter in 2023, with the local bourse concluding that a deal worth 89% of Trustco’s value at the time should be put to its investors and its failure to do so was ‘unacceptable’. The matter concerns Meya Mining, which is registered in Mauritius and has a diamond mine in the eastern part of Sierra Leone. The JSE levied a R5m fine – the maximum allowable JSE fine is R7.5m – and censured Trustco for its failure to first obtain shareholder approval prior to the implementation of the transaction. Trustco was founded in 1992 and listed on the JSE in 2009. It had also garnered some attention in recent years amid a long-running battle with the JSE over accounting decisions made in one of its financial reports. In November 2020, the JSE directed Trustco to restate its annual financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2019 by returning shares, reversing the profits declared from forgiving loans and reclassifying property. Trustco denied that the JSE had a case and refused to restate its financial results, leading to its suspension in November 2022. Trustco, however, ultimately conceded to restate the financials, and its suspension was lifted in March 2023. It was also publicly censured by the local bourse later that year.

Full News24 report