The Kebble Collusion: The story of the world’s greatest unprosecuted fraud

There are some who would say that the Brett Kebble ‘saga’ is over – or at least that it’s been fully explained. The Kebble Collusion shows that nothing could be further from the truth. This is a story that starts unfolding 15 years ago, in 1997, and which stretches out to the present day. And it is a story of the world’s biggest unprosecuted fraud. How is it that not a single person has been prosecuted where damages of R26 billion can be proven? The narrative unravels this remarkable story, which covers the period of Brett Kebble’s reign as a ‘Randlord’, from around September 1997 until his death on 27 September 2005, and then continues to unravel the cover ups which continue to this day. Brett Kebble was in control of the ‘JCI Group’ – comprising mainly three entities listed in Johannesburg: JCI, Western Areas, and Randgold. The heart of Kebble’s ’empire’ was his standing as the biggest individual shareholder in JCI; JCI’s single biggest investment, in turn, was a large stake in Western Areas; which, in turn, initially held a large stake in South Deep, one of the world’s biggest unexploited gold deposits, not far west of Johannesburg. As such, Brett Kebble’s single biggest personal investment, indirect as it may have been, was in South Deep. This was the status quo from around September 1997, and persisted for the rest of Kebble’s life. From Day One, the link between Kebble and South Deep completely dominated Kebble’s decision-making, for good or for ill. Building the South Deep gold mine cost many billions of rands. A large part of the funds Western Areas had to contribute to build South Deep was stolen from Randgold. The bulk of Randgold’s listed portfolio was stolen by Kebble and JCI. The shares stolen realised some R1902 million. The initial recipients of the proceeds of the thefts were JCI (R926 million), Western Areas (R450 million), Kebble and associated parties (R420 million) and Investec (R106 million). The highest value that the stolen shares reached after the theft is R26 000 million. In South Africa, the condictio furtiva allows a thief to be sued for the highest value of goods stolen, at any time after the theft. Randgold liquidated the estate of Kebble. It issued summonses against Western Areas (which changed its name to Gold Fields Operations after Gold Fields acquired its total issued share capital) and Investec. The JCI claim was settled for R783 million and the claims against Investec and Western Areas were effectively abandoned. The book shows in detail how and why the various individuals and entities that conspired with Brett Kebble to hide and benefit from this mind-boggling fraud have failed to be brought to account, either in the civil or criminal courts. The narrative speaks truth to power, exposing as it does the tender underbelly of South Africa’s young democracy. It is essential reading for all those dedicated to building a better country.