Proudly SA yesterday hit back against recent allegations of corruption within the organisation and after an investigation said it was considering filing civil suits against three former employees for defamation and fraud.
Proudly SA is an organisation that promotes the procurement of locally manufactured goods to reduce unemployment. “As on January 26, 2020, a series of false accusations was made against Proudly SA on the spoof Twitter account @AdvoBarryRoux.
The posts named members of our executive as well as some of our suppliers, partners and service providers,” Proudly SA said. The same accusations of maladministration, fraud and irregular financial procedures had been made in a report that was submitted anonymously in October to the Deloitte Tip-Off Line. However, an internal investigation, exonerated all those implicated and, “in fact, found the submission to constitute malicious reporting”, it said.
Proudly SA said a further external inquiry, which it commissioned and included a forensic investigation, found the accusations to be without any foundation, clearing each member of the executive and management of any wrongdoing whatsoever.
“What was also uncovered during the investigations, was that one of these members of staff had themselves falsified documents in order to implicate others and to justify the claims made in the anonymous report. All three of the aforementioned employees have now been dismissed by Proudly South African,” it said.
Proudly SA said as a result of the defamatory claims that were made in the public domain, making false accusations and using names in the process, three of its executives were considering pursuing civil suits against these individuals and the organisation had also taken legal advice regarding opening charges of fraud and/or forgery.