COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

JSE fines former officials of AEEI

The JSE has imposed fines and issued public censures on two former officials from companies linked to businessman Iqbal Survé.

Abdul Malick Salie, the former chief investment officer at African Equity Empowerment Investments Limited (AEEI), was found to be one of the people responsible for transgressing listings requirements with regards to AYO Technology’s controversial 2018 interim results. These contained errors and were published shortly after the IT group listed on the stock exchange in December 2017.

Salie was briefly AYO’s CFO in 2019. The JSE fined him R250 000. AYO, on the other hand, was fined R6.5 million in 2020 for the publication of those results, which contained material errors.

AYO is a technology company that falls within Survé's Sekunjalo stable of companies. It is a subsidiary of AEEI, which itself is a subsidiary of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (SIH). SIH is 100% owned by a trust which has Survé as a trustee.

The JSE said on Tuesday that it had fined AYO’s other former CFO, Naahied Gamieldien, R250 000 for breaching listing requirements, specifically with regards to payments involving boutique asset management company, 3 Laws Capital, which was expected to manage funds for the tech firm. Sekunjalo was the majority shareholder of 3 Laws at the time.

The bourse said it considered that both Salie and Gamieldien were transparent and fully cooperated with its investigations when it decided on the fine. The JSE’s investigation into other current and former AYO officials is ongoing.-Fin24