Johannesburg - Slain Joburg businessman Jeff Wiggill’s company, First Tech Group, looks set to be liquidated after his killing.
First Tech, based in Benrose, Joburg, is responsible for maintaining more than 7 000 jobs, which are now on the line after the company’s bid for business rescue failed this week.
The group was also responsible for buying out Cosira, a firm contracted to provide steel for the Medupi power station, the construction of which has been delayed.
Wiggill, the company’s chairman, was discovered by police in the early hours of June 20 with gunshot wounds to the head.
The father of five was found on Randfontein Road in Protea Glen, his black Bentley just metres away from his body. Only Wiggill’s wallet and cellphone were stolen.
It’s understood that Wiggill had been travelling near Melrose Arch before he was hijacked and taken to Soweto.
Sources close to the investigation say the murder was more than just a hijacking.
Police confirmed earlier this month that a task team had been brought in to probe the case.
Sources have indicated to The Star that Wiggill’s finances and those of First Tech appeared to be linked to his killing, and the company’s heavy debt has now been confirmed.
In documents that The Star has seen, the company’s board of directors took a decision on July 4 to apply for business rescue, saying the firm would no longer be able to pay its debts.
But it was almost a week later that business rescue practitioners were engaged. This dragging of feet appears to have ensured the company’s liquidation.
Wiggill’s death had triggered numerous internal investigations at the company, as stated in a sworn statement by chief executive Andy Bertulis, to apply for the rescue.
“Since the demise of Mr Wiggill, it has become necessary to unravel a number of complex and intricate financial transactions concluded for and on behalf of the group,” said Bertulis’s statement.
Last month, Cosira applied for voluntary business rescue - which also failed - and it was provisionally liquidated.
Bertulis’s statement says Wiggill was solely responsible for the group’s financial affairs, but an executive at the firm, who approached The Star under condition of anonymity, said this was not the case.
He said some of the financial transactions at the company were under investigation by some of the banks involved in the company’s finances. The company would try to identify Wiggill as the only one involved.
The executive said First Tech and its 18 subsidiaries were responsible for the loss of 7 000 jobs in the past three weeks, including his own.
The executive said the company was responsible for numerous fraudulent transactions, but the Commercial Crime Unit was unable to confirm an official investigation into the company on Tuesday afternoon.
First Tech was also unavailable for comment.
One man, Thulani Cele, was arrested for Wiggill’s murder, but it’s unclear how he was involved in the crime.
The Star