Kebble mourners urged to keep mining magnate’s secrets

According to a Moneyweb report he told business associates and politicians who attended Kebble’s funeral in Cape Town that ‘what Brett said to any of us in private should remain private’. Pahad said: ‘I had very private conversations with Brett. Now that he’s gone these will remain private conversations.’ He also lashed out at the media, saying articles that convict Kebble ‘don’t accord him rights’ in our democracy where ‘everyone is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty’. Full Moneyweb report

A probe into the Kebble empire has revealed a slush fund – Consolidated Mining Management Services (CMMS). A Moneyweb investigation says up to R2bn in cash has gone missing under the hand of the late Brett Kebble over the past 15 months or so. It says Kebble was for years a director of CMMS, which, according to its most recent audited accounts, was a 98% subsidiary of JCI Limited, one of three listed companies where Kebble was forced out as CE on August 30. The report says that according to the latest available audited accounts for CMMS, the company was bankrupt beyond description on March 31, 2003. CMMS had negative capital and reserves of R493m. It enjoyed a R543m loan from its ultimate holding company, JCI, a loan which was ‘unsecured and interest free,’ and which had no terms of repayment. In short, says Moneyweb, CMMS was funded – to the tune of tens upon tens of millions of rands a year – by JCI, out of the sight of JCI shareholders. JCI was suspended from the JSE on August 1, for failing to file its accounts to March 31, 2005. Full Moneyweb report