Agriprocessing company Tongaat Hulett says seven individuals, including six former company executives and a former audit partner of auditing and consulting company Deloitte, appeared in the Durban Commercial Crime Court on February 10 in relation to fraud charges. All those charged were granted bail.

The National Prosecuting Authority confirmed to Tongaat that seven individuals appeared, including former CEO Peter Staude, as well as executives Murray Munro, Michael Deighton, Rory Wilkinson, Kamlasagrie Singh and Samantha Shukla.

Former Deloitte audit partner working on the Tongaat audit Gavin Kruger also appeared.

The charges stem from alleged fraudulent activity that took place between March 2015 and September 2018.

It is alleged that the suspects cooperated to backdate land sale agreements, which had a significant impact on the company’s financial results.

“Forensic investigations by management consulting and services company PwC identified that certain senior executives initiated or participated in undesirable accounting practices, which resulted in the company’s profits being overstated over a number of years. This led to the loss of value to our shareholders and many of our other stakeholders,” Tongaat said.

Following the PwC forensic investigations, Tongaat in late 2019 laid criminal charges against former executives identified for their role in the alleged undesirable accounting practices.

“Tongaat welcomes this development in the legal process and it will continue to cooperate with law enforcement authorities whenever required to ensure those responsible for the historic mismanagement of Tongaat are held accountable,” company secretary Johann van Rooyen said.

The case was postponed to April 11, when it is expected to resume in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, in Durban.

Additionally, civil proceedings brought by the company against four former executives during 2020 are also under way, and the company will update on developments in this regard when appropriate, it said.