Treasury boss calls for Bain blacklisting but 'that's not good enough' - Abedian

Bruce Whitfield interviews Treasury acting DG Ismail Momoniat and Pan-African Investment & Research Services' Dr Iraj Abedian.

- National Treasury acting DG Ismail Momoniat has called on companies in the private sector both locally and abroad not to do business with Bain & Co

- While he congratulates Momoniat for his principled stand as a government official, it is not good enough says Dr Iraj Abedian (Pan-African Investment & Research Services)

- Bruce Whitfield interviews both Momoniat and Abedian on The Money Show

Government is turning up the heat on Bain & Company, a day after the UK banned the global management consulting firm from any new government contracts over the next three years.

National Treasury's Ismail Momoniat has called on companies in the private sector both locally and abroad not to do business with Bain.

"In my view, what they did at Sars [SA Revenue Service] is akin to treason" the acting director general said during an interview with News24.

FILE: Acting Treasury Director-General Ismail Momoniat. Picture: @TreasuryRSA/Twitter

In response, Dr Abedian (CEO of Pan-African Investment & Research Services) writes as follows on Twitter:

"Dear Momo, Thank you for your honest admission. The question arises: has the National Treasury not been complicit in this act by omission in the past 3 or 4 years? Why no action?"

Bain,KPMG,McKinsey,SAP&many enablers of state capture continue receiving govt&corporate sector support in SA.Niether Govt,nor Business SA are serious about fighting corruption. As citizens we should blacklist all SA businesses that support these corrupt multi-national corporates.
— Iraj Abedian (@IrajAbedian) August 4, 2022

Bruce Whitfield asks Momoniat to elaborate on his "treason" statement.

What I said is that what Bain did to destroy Sars, is akin to treason... because they plotted for about 18 months before Mr [Tom] Moyane was appointed as commissioner to get him in, and they already had a plan to rid Sars of people who had really contributed to building it...
Ismail Momoniat, Acting Director General - National Treasury

I saw [over 17 years] how Sars had been gradually developed into a world-class institution, only to be destroyed by one man within just two years or so of his oversight over that institution, and Bain was complicit...
Ismail Momoniat, Acting Director General - National Treasury

Momoniat said it was made very clear when the evidence came out at the Nugent Commission in 2018, that Bain should be held criminally liable for its actions.

That's why we say both government departments, state entities and the private sector should not do business with Bain... Yes, there are some legal complexities in South Africa, so it's a bit frustrating how slowly we move in the country...
Ismail Momoniat, Acting Director General - National Treasury

Sars had laid charges in the middle of 2019, and we're still waiting for the authorities to arrest somebody... Our processes just take too long. It's a product of state capture that it's so weak, in my view.
Ismail Momoniat, Acting Director General - National Treasury

Momoniat also responded to the accusation of "ghosting" made on The Money Show by Athol Williams, seen as the Bain key whistleblower.

The Treasury acting DG explained why he is "skeptical" about dealing with Williams and not sure whether to see him as a whistleblower.

According to Momoniat, Williams "ran to save Bain" during the Nugent Commission proceedings.

"It's in fact the Nugent Commission that discovered the info in spite of Athol Williams. He only changed his mind two or three years after that."

Back to Momoniat's call for Bain to be blacklisted, Dr Abedian concurs but with some reservations about the statement.

I must congratulate Mr Momoniat for being the first government high official who is very straightforward and principled in this regard, however he is facing limitations and I believe that's not good enough.
, CEO - Pan-African Investment & Research Services

We need to literally recognise that state capture and its operatives, from Bain to McKinsey, KPMG, General Electric... and all the ministers involved, but especially the businesses... the law firms and a couple of banks... they have destroyed the financial and the macroeconomic integrity of the country!
Dr Iraj Abedian, CEO - Pan-African Investment & Research Services

If we don't do something, and do something quickly, we're going to condemn two generations of South Africans to misery.
Dr Iraj Abedian, CEO - Pan-African Investment & Research Services

It is not about blacklisting these corporations alone; they need to pay reparations... This is where I separate myself from Director General Momoniat - it's not good enough to say that because our law enforcement agencies are broken they can't do anything.
Dr Iraj Abedian, CEO - Pan-African Investment & Research Services

According to Dr Abedian the President should be invoking the Constitutional power that he has and put together a dedicated team of the best lawyers to recover "hundreds of billions of rand" from the implicated organisations.

Scroll up to listen to the powerful interviews

This article first appeared on CapeTalk : Treasury boss calls for Bain blacklisting but 'that's not good enough' - Abedian