Harmony CE denies offshore-accounts report
John Fraser
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HARMONY CE Bernard Swanepoel is rumoured to be holding a number of accounts on the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey, a report in the Guardian newspaper said yesterday.
Foreign offshore accounts are sensitive, because SA has tough foreign-exchange laws, placing conditions on its citizens when moving funds abroad.
Many South Africans have negotiated an amnesty on funds held abroad, but the existence of foreign accounts may raise eyebrows as Harmony`s aggressive bid for Gold Fields is poised on a knife edge.
The British publication reported that it had information about a series of offshore bank accounts allegedly held in the name of Zacharias Bernardus Swanepoel — the Harmony executive’s full name.
It reported that the accounts “have been held by Barclays Bank on the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey; Citibank in Jersey and the Isle of Man, and HSBC on the Isle of Man”.
“They are attached to corresponding accounts in the Bahamas, Geneva and Paris,” according to documents the Guardian claims to have seen.
Swanepoel said yesterday the suggestion he held a series of offshore bank accounts was “rubbish” and that he was a victim of a dirty tricks campaign.
He said he had just one account with Nedbank in London, “and it is all above board”.
“I have followed the rules.
“ I think this is very sad.
“These insinuations are at a level I had hoped this bid process would not come to.
“You have to ask where insinuations like this come from — just like the ‘fact’ that Harmony’s shareholders were revolting over our bid for Gold Fields — this one oversteps the boundaries of what is reasonable and smacks of desperation to impugn my integrity.”
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