An attorney named in an interim report by the public protector on corruption within the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has launched an urgent application to prevent its release.
Formerly known as the Financial Services Board (FSB), the organisation has been at the centre of public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s corruption, extortion and mismanagement probe since EFF president Julius Malema launched a complaint against the board and its boss, Dube Tshidi, in April 2017.
The investigation stems from an alleged relationship between Tshidi and lawyer Anthony Mostert, and his curatorship of a series of pension funds between 2005 and 2011, allegedly with the agreement of the FSB.
As part of the agreements, Mostert and his law firm were able to negotiate large claims on surplus earnings in the funds, alongside remuneration for legal fees. In one fund, the Sable Industries Pension Fund, he reportedly earned about R122m.
In the EFF’s complaint to the public protector, Malema wrote: “Mr Tshidi … continues to act in a manner which does not serve the interests of the very people that the FSB has been established to protect, namely the members of pension funds.”
Mostert has now launched an application in the High Court in Pretoria to prevent the release of any of the interim findings – which he said negatively implicate him – after notice of their release was sent out this week to relevant parties.
He indicated he will launch an application to reverse the public protector’s decision to investigate the matter at all.
In his founding affidavit, Mostert says the investigation is part of a smear campaign against him, and that the EFF’s complaint was submitted based on false information provided to it...