South African authorities charge Vodacom executive with perjury

26 July 2008

South Africa's competition watchdog said on Thursday it has charged a senior Vodacom executive with perjury, alleging that she misled the authority during its investigation into the company's proposed acquisition of Glocell. The charges were laid on Wednesday at Sunnyside Police Station in Pretoria.

The case relates to the 2007 acquisition of Global Telematics SA (Pty) Ltd. and Glocell Service Provider Company (Pty) Ltd. by one of Johannesburg-based Vodacom's units. Vodafone Group Plc and Telkom South Africa Ltd. each have a 50-per cent stake in Vodacom, South Africa's biggest mobile-phone company by subscribers.

The unnamed executive signed a certificate of accuracy on behalf of Vodacom during hearings by the Competition Commission on the acquisition of Glocell by Service Provider Company, a unit of Vodacom. The deal was given a nod by the watchdog in March.

The commission said the executive could face a penalty of 2,000 rand ($264.2) or six months in jail. However the executive would have faced a heavier fine under a proposed amended competition bill, currently being debated in parliament.

The commission said the executive lied about Vodacom's real strategic rationale for wanting to buy Glocell and the company failed to provide relevant documents.

The commission regarded the executive's explanation as a true and fair rationale for Vodacom's acquisition of Glocell. However, Vodacom later provided documents to a sister competition authority, the Competition Tribunal, showing the real strategic rationale for buying Glocell.