Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith were found to have been grossly negligent by the Commission of Enquiry and found to have been the ones who were responsible for the R20m lost by the members.

It was found that Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith were grossly negligent in their assessment of the situation and by authorising Deloitte to do the work at the rate that they did. Further they provided no persuasive reasons for the rebuild which they positioned as fixing a problem that they did not prove was a problem at all.

It was found that the evidence showed that the records discarded by Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith may have been correct.

It was found that the Deloitte Report provides no corroboration for Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith’s various assertions that the respective fund’s values were inaccurate during the course of Dynamique’s tenure as administrator.

It was found that it is not improbable that if there were problems with the Aon records that these occurred after the sale of the business had been concluded.

It was found that Renier Botha did not do anything at the time of the AON takeover that one would have expected of someone who harboured concerns about member records

It was found that Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith made no attempt to examine Aon’s role in the accuracy of member records and were quite content to lay the blame at Dynamique’s and Kamionsky’s door.

It was found that it was highly irresponsible of Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith to ask Deloitte to undertake the Rebuild without establishing some justification for spending Members’ money.

It was found that it is almost certain that had Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith observed the age-old practice of obtaining three quotes, that they could have obtained a cheaper quote for the rebuild.

It was found that Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith may have personally benefitted and may have been motivated by self-interest in authorising the excessive payments to Deloitte.

It was found that the unnecessary charges could have been completely avoided had adequate insurance been in place to cover the contingencies that the trustees faced. Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith’s argument that an insurance claim would, in any event have been repudiated was rejected and their insinuation that administrator Aon were negligent in keeping the policy up to date was also rejected. It was found that this is a smoke screen to cover up their negligence in failing to maintain adequate insurance cover.

It was found that Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith by failing to disclose their non-payment of the insurance premiums to the members once again failed in their fiduciary duty to act in Members best interests by keeping them informed of developments. Further, by Renier Botha and David Lepar also not disclosing the non-payment to the High Court they withheld vital information from the High Court in their pleadings and heads of argument.

Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith were also found liable by the Pension Funds Adjudicator. So in reality two independent adjudicators have already ruled on the matter and both found Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith to be liable and their actions to have been negligent.

Regarding this Pension Funds Adjudicator determination that ordered Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith to repay the money, it was found that they had this determination set aside by the High Court on a pure technicality given none of the cited members had the resources to defend the appeal. This case is a prime example of how the legal system almost unwittingly denies the ordinary man in the street true justice. Better-resourced individuals are able to gain a perceived victory over less resourced individuals. The perception of victory is created although none is actually achieved. The system permits perceptions of victory to manifest on occasion instead of ensuring that a final resolution on the merits is convincingly achieved one way or another. This is a fault in the legal procedure system.

Regarding Tony Kamionsky, it was found that there was no wrongdoing whatsoever by Tony Kamionsky and that there was no basis whatsoever for holding Kamionsky accountable for any of the loss.

It was found that Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith had not produced any evidence of wrongdoing by Dynamique SA Consultants and Actuaries or by Tony Kamionsky. In fact it was found that by all accounts the work done by Dynamique and by Tony Kamionsky was of a very high standard. Further given the online access and pre-billing provided by Dynamique it is highly probable the records were correct. In addition Aon would have done a due diligence and this would have uncovered any material problems.

It was found that the legal action taken by Renier Botha, David Lepar and Carel Smith against Kamionsky was unjustified and was also a way of keeping the spotlight off their own shortcomings.

It was found that the actions of the follow up trustee John Rollason was equally reprehensible in that there was clear action on his part to cover the tracks of the former trustees and ensure they were able to exit without a shred of accountability for their gross negligent use of Member funds. The long-standing relationship between John Rollason and another trustee probably contributed to a conflict between their personal interests and their fiduciary duties to the Members.