Bain SA, whose public image has taken a big knock following its alleged role in the state capture project, has hit back at the government’s decision to ban it from tendering for public-sector contracts for 10 years.
The SA unit of the US-based global consultancy firm on Wednesday described the decision communicated by the National Treasury two weeks ago as “fundamentally flawed”, saying there was no evidence that it rigged the procurement process to win the SA Revenue Service (Sars) tender in 2015.
It also argues that it was not notified of the impending adverse outcome nor given an opportunity to make representations on why the ban should not have been imposed, as is required by the law.
“This was despite the fact the decision was apparently reached almost three weeks before we were notified. We had already reached out to various stakeholders, including National Treasury and Sars, to engage in further dialogue,” Bain SA said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Despite our outreach, which attempts were consistently rejected, we were given no notice of or opportunity to respond to the restriction prior to its apparent implementation,” it said.
It has written to the Treasury and Sars asking them to lift the decade-long suspension.
The government has barred the US company from doing business with the state on the basis that it was engaged in “corrupt and fraudulent practices in competing for the Sars contract”.
Two weeks ago, SA followed in the footsteps of its UK
counterpart in a move that is likely to pile pressure on private sector companies to take a
similar approach.
Bain SA stands accused of participating in the state-capture project under former president Jacob Zuma by allegedly destroying the tax-collecting capabilities of Sars.
The Zondo commission of inquiry found that Bain SA, former Sars commissioner Tom Moyane and former president Jacob Zuma were central to attempts to destroy the tax collection agency.
But Bain has maintained its innocence in the hollowing out of Sars under Moyane, saying it disagrees with the Treasury’s sanction because it has “found no evidence, nor has any been produced, that Bain manipulated the procurement process in any way to exclude other bidders or specifically advantage Bain”.
It argues there were “mistakes made” leading up to and including its work with Sars between 2015 and 2017.
These mistakes included errors in the procurement and execution of its work at Sars, lapses in leadership by Vittorio Massone, Bain SA’s former office head, and failures in management oversight which enabled these actions to take place and ignore red flags raised by both local and global leaders in the firm, it said.
Bain also admitted it lacked specific protocols for working with the government and the public sector and did not provide further testimony to the Nugent commission from those who worked with Massone on the Sars contract.
“We accept that there must be consequences for these mistakes. We also fully recognise and support the government’s responsibility in holding companies to account for the role they may have played in state capture,” it said.
“However, singling out an individual company based on unproven allegations and without due process is concerning. We believe that the decision to restrict Bain SA is fundamentally flawed.”
With Thando Maeko
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.