The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) accepted a R1.2 million donation by Trillian in March of this year. It also thanked the Gupta-linked company for the role it played in nation building and furthering its efforts for the chartered accountancy brand in South Africa. This was reported first by EWN reporter Gia Nicolaides.
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In July, the SAICA board decided to pay back the money, a contribution for SAICA's bursary fund for disadvantaged students, because of the controversies around Trillian.
Eskom recently demanded Trillian and consulting firm McKinsey to pay back almost R1.6-billion, which the power utility said to have received from irregular and non-existent contracts. Until his departure in July, Gupta right-hand man Salim Essa was Trillian's majority shareholder.
SAICA CEO Terence Nombembe (pictured, photo copyright: SAICA) said that Trillian donation was paid back in August. He told EWN:
"Because of uncertainties related to Trillian, it was important to suspend that association and return the money, to make sure that SAICA is not associated with controversy in terms of the money."
"The staff responsible for the issue would not have been aware of the controversy that's why the board, as part of its checks and balances, had picked up this particular situation and made the right decision."
