KPMG cuts links with firm owned by Zuma friends

Global accountancy firm KPMG and South African investment bank Sasfin have severed ties with a company owned by the Guptas, a family of Indian-born businessmen, due to a scandal over their relationship with South African President Jacob Zuma.

In an email to KPMG staff seen by Reuters, local chief executive Trevor Hoole said he had decided to stop auditing Oakbay Resources and Energy, a Gupta mining firm, after consulting regulators, clients and KPMG's internal risk departments. "I can assure you that this decision was not taken lightly but in our view the association risk is too great for us to continue," Hoole said in the email. "There will clearly be financial and potentially other consequences to this, but we view them as justifiable."