FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 1 [100 Marks] Top South African Indian-origin businessman arrested for Gupta-linked fraud and corru

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FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 1 [100 Marks] Top South African
Indian-origin businessman arrested for Gupta-linked fraud and
corruption JOHANNESBURG: Iqbal Meer Sharma, once a powerful South
African government official in the Department of Trade and
Industry, was arrested on Thursday in a massive fraud and
corruption scandal linked to the controversial Gupta family. Sharma
was charged alongside three senior former officials of the Free
State government, who allegedly transgressed processes related to
spending of public funds. The state alleges that Sharma, through
his company Nuland Investment, laundered over 20 million Rands
which the provincial Free State Department of Agriculture paid for
a feasibility study which was supposed to cost just 1.5 million
Rands. This was to determine whether the Estina Dairy Farm project
would benefit small-scale Black farmers in partnership with Indian
company Paras. The Estina project failed badly, with allegations
that tens of millions more from the venture were siphoned off to
the Gupta family, which is accused of looting billions of Rands
from a number of state and parastatal institutions. The Gupta
brothers - Ajay, Atul and Rajesh - are in self-exile in Dubai as
the South African government tries through the UN to extradite them
because there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.
Nuland then outsourced the study to two companies, which later
over-charged the department with 24 million Rands. “We are alleging
that, in order to siphon off money, (Sharma) subcontracted another
company and the other sub-company was supposed to do the same
services which [another well-known company] had already done,” said
Sindisiwe Seboka, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting
Authority's Investigative Directorate. Community members are also
angry because they feel that there has been large scale looting at
the facility by government officials, said Odendaal. The local
chief and community members are desperately crying out for
government intervention in the project and for experts to get the
project back on track. Sharma and the former Head of the
Agriculture Department Peter Tabetha were remanded in custody
pending a formal bail application on June 7. In 2002, Sharma, then
a director in the South African Department of Trade and Industries,
joined then Indian Commerce Secretary Dipak Chatterjee in
Johannesburg for a three-day meeting with high-profile business
leaders to revive cooperation between the two countries through the
India South Africa Commercial Alliance (ISACA). “Historically, we
have got strong political and cultural ties, but the economic
dimension of our relationship has been given a boost by ISACA,
which was set up after the then Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar
Gujral visited South Africa in 1997,” Sharma said then. After
rising through the ranks to various positions in state Departments,
Sharma started his own business, with frequent visits to India. In
2012, Sharma hit the headlines after an incident in a Mumbai
restaurant which saw popular actor Saif Ali Khan being arrested
after he allegedly punched Sharma. Sharma claimed that Khan
retaliated angrily after he sent several requests via restaurant
staff to Khan's table, where he was dining with some fellow actors,
to lower their voices and allow Sharma and his family to enjoy
their meal in peace. At a press conference later for his then
newest film ‘Agent Vinod', Khan denied that the incident had been a
publicity stunt for the film's release, admitting that he could
have handled the situation better and was sorry for the way it had
panned out.
Question 1
The key question among many organisations has been pertaining to
the justification of why the sudden interest in risk management.
Discuss the major challenges that have been highlighted that
sanction the need for a focus in risk, compliance and control
structures and evaluate the challenge being presented in the case
study with regards to the Estina Dairy Farm project. (25 Marks)
Question 2
In response to the numerous corporate scandals, there have been
multiple responses that have been considered. Provide a definition
for organisational misconduct and through secondary research,
evaluate how the implementation of the EU Green Paper principles
might have prevented the Estina Dairy Farm scandal. (25 Marks)
Question 3
Management functions vary by program size and type, partnership
arrangement, legal arrangement amongst many others. Discuss five
functions of management identified by Mallin (2015) and apply these
to the Free State Department of Agriculture in the context of the
Estina Dairy Farm project. Provide an evaluation if management
performed these functions adequately (where necessary, make
relevant assumptions). (25 Marks)