PetroSA had been embarrassed by the Oilgate scandal and had severed all ties with Imvume Management, the empowerment company which allegedly gave R11-million of public money to the African National Congress for its 2004 election fund.
PetroSA chairperson Popo Molefe says there is no truth in the widely publicised allegations that the state oil company PetroSA channelled public funds through Imvume Management to the ANC, but concedes that the scandal has severely damaged PetroSA's public image.
"PetroSA has not used public funds to fund any political party," Molefe said on Wednesday.
It had terminated its relationship with Imvume and was recouping the R15-million, R11-million of which was reportedly given to the ANC.
"We have been embarrassed by a BEE company we were empowering," Molefe said. "They then didn't pay the money to the supplier," Molefe said, in reference to Imvume's request for the R15-million advance and its subsequent failure to pay Glencore International, the company which supplied the oil condensate.
"Quite clearly - once bitten, twice shy," Molefe said of PetroSA's relationship with Imvume.
He was speaking after PetroSA's management faced a grilling by parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on what ANC MP Pierre Gerber described as "red flags" in the state oil company's finances.
According to PetroSA's chief executive officer, Sipho Mkhize, Imvume had already repaid R7-million of the R15-million to PetroSA and was continuing to make monthly payments of R500 000 while being charged interest at prime plus two.
On Wednesday Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer
called on the National Prosecuting Authority to investigate Imvume's alleged abuse of public money.
In a statement released after the Scopa meeting, Dreyer said: "There can now be no doubt that a thorough and in-depth investigation must be urgently instigated by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) into the relationship between Imvume and the ANC.
"Only a full forensic audit or public inquiry will disclose the full nature of the relationship between Imvume and the ANC, and how Imvume used PetroSA to grant an advance payment," she said.
The DA had written to the NPA requesting a meeting to discuss the matter and called on the NPA to "investigate all the allegations surrounding Oilgate".
NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said on Wednesday night he was not aware of the DA's letter.
The Independent Democrats also said it was clear from PetroSA's answers to questions at the meeting that there were grounds for a criminal investigation.
"It is clear from the answers given that Imvume's actions amounted to fraud in that it did not spend the advanced payment by PetroSA on its intended purpose," Independent Democrats MP Lance Greyling said.
"It is still not clear why PetroSA did not institute criminal proceedings against Imvume and instead chose to turn the advance payment into a soft loan," he said.