State-owned Broadband Infraco on Monday dismissed reports that its CFO Ramasela Magoele had been suspended or that an investigation had been launched against her for allegedly breaching the Public Finance Management Act.

GM for marketing Sammy Mafu emphasised that no employee had been suspended despite the National Treasury’s confiscation of some of Broadband Infraco procurement staff members’ laptops “for standard data acquisition” on Friday.

None of the employees – who continued their normal duties at the company – were suspended or under investigation.

“The process went very smoothly with employees giving their full cooperation.”

“Broadband Infraco also places on record that its CFO has not been suspended and regrets destructive rumours of such nature. Magoele remains a member of its executive management team,” he stated.

Broadband Infraco previously reported commissioning investigations to assess compliance with procurement and contract management, owing to previous breakdowns in internal controls and a more proactive approach to detecting and resolving internal governance matters.

The broadband capacity supplier came under fire in 2011 after an external audit revealed irregular expenditure of R151-million and wasteful expenditure of R1.9-million. The company also received a scolding from Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba for its poor corporate governance and substandard internal controls.

However, the company was showing signs of a turnaround after a management shake-up and an improvement in its financial performance during the year ended March 2012.

Infraco, for the first time, generated positive cash from operations of R52-million during the year – contributing to a 54% improvement in the company’s net loss, which was reduced to R95-million. Last year, the company recorded a R206-million loss for the year.

A 36% rise in revenue was also recorded, with Infraco achieving R393.6-million, compared with the R297.6-million in the prior year.