We have learnt that appointments have been made and that they will be briefed by CIPC officials on 6 March “to unpack the preliminary report and scope the inquisition’s objectives and expected outputs (a final report with recommendations)”
This will trigger the release of the Investigation’s Interim Report. It will be emailed to those of the investigation participants who have returned signed non-disclosure agreements. CIPC then allows a thirty-day period “to allow affected parties to gather supplementary and supporting evidence and explore any other available legal remedy, while awaiting the contemplated inquisition.” Affected parties are the investigation participants
Then the investigation’s preliminary outcomes will be addressed at two levels:
* An “inquisition” will cover the “origin of the Schemes of Arrangement” (SoA) which means, in effect, how the Sharemax Business Rescue Plan originated and how it was sanctioned by the Courts under the provisions of Section 311 of the Companies Act * A separate internal tribunal within the Dtic (Department of Trade , Industry and Competition – of which CIPC is a Division) to address “the execution by Nova” meaning the execution of the SoA mission which is restitution for the original Sharemax investors or their successors and the reason for Nova’s existence
Thereafter, the Final Report will be released and the matter will enter a new phase where “a higher authority must be approached for a declaratory order.” But, “This obviously cannot happen before we give vent to Section 41 of the Constitution to allow those who may have been wrong in endorsing the Schemes to regularise a “crime”( which, in terms of the preliminary report; is found to be amiss and unlawful) a chance to defend their historical actions or concede that they were factually wrong.”
In other words, the findings which will hopefully turn the historical allegations of illegality and irregularity about the PSPC industry shut-down, into “fact” and presumably, persons and entities – both in the private and public sectors – will be named and thus, effectively, accused of “a crime” or wrongdoing. It is those persons and entities who/that will be given the chance to “defend their historical actions or concede that they were factually wrong”
What will follow is that quite possibly there could be legal actions which, in their turn, will take time. And then, there may also be a, possibly extended, period of negotiations on how to achieve restitution for the Sharemax investors
So, whilst the investigation is moving forward to its conclusion and whilst there is a good chance that the initial outcomes will beneficial for the Sharemax investors, these will also be the start of a lot of other legal processes which in their turn, will probably also take time
The CIPC have turned to the private sector to find Senior Counsel to head up the further stages of the investigation