CONTROVERSIAL businessman Danko Koncar is at the centre of a R7.5bn corruption case brought by the Association Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) against Samancor Chrome, according to media reports.
In papers filed in the Johannesburg high court on Wednesday, the union said Samancor was behind an illicit financial flows scheme which saw the mining giant shift billions of rands in profit offshore. Koncar was chairman of the company at the time, and its owner.
According to the Sowetan, the allegations are contained in a number of affidavits, including that of former Samancor director turned whistle-blower Miodrag Kon. Koncar, who is allegedly worth billions, is Croatia’s richest citizen, said the newspaper.
The court papers contain company memos, e-mails and other executive management documents, which allegedly point to how the company shifted its profits offshore through transfer pricing, secret management fees and secretly sold-off assets.
In an affidavit spanning more than 500 pages, AMCU, which is representing the Ndizani Workers’ Trust, has demanded access to all of Samancor’s financial records, including its income and expenditure records and the minutes of board meetings, dating back to 2008, said the Sowetan.
The union has asked Samancor to provide the information within 60 days. The company and Koncar have yet to file responding papers.
In June, Koncar fell foul of Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority which ordered him to pay a €110m fine after failing to launch a takeover bid of Afarak, his current main business interest, after Finland’s government found he had act in concert with business counterparts to exert control over the company.
