JSE cuts Risk Insights ties

STOCK EXCHANGE: SAYS FOUNDER ANUSHKA BOGDANOV FAILED TO DISCLOSE INVESTIGATION

- Ryk van Niekerk

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has cancelled its contract with governance consultancy Risk Insights and is demanding repayment of R1.3 million, after founder Anushka Bogdanov admitted to misrepresenting her PhD qualification from the London Business School.

The exchange rescinded the contract on 4 August, because Bogdanov failed to disclose that she was under investigation by the JSE's Markets Division during the negotiation process leading to the deal.

The JSE's management company operates independently from the markets division and was not aware of the probe.

The markets division had been investigating Bogdanov's qualifications since 2020, a process that stretched over five years.

It culminated in a Sens announcement on 25 July, which announced she was fined R500 000 and banned from serving as a director of any listed company for 10 years.

Bogdanov is a former director of EOH Holdings, which is still listed on the JSE, but changed its name to iOCO Limited last year.

The JSE said the sanction was imposed after Bogdanov admitted, late last year, that she did not hold the doctorate she had claimed to.

She issued a statement last Thursday saying Risk Insights had received a cease-and-desist letter from the JSE related to the contract.