JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South African junior miner Wesizwe Platinum on Wednesday cleared its outgoing CEO Mike Solomon of all allegations sprouting from an internal audit report in November 2009, through a forensic audit carried out by independent auditors Deloitte & Touche and legal firm Deneys Reitz.

The report investigated the bonus attributed to Solomon, the company's compliance to King III and corporate governance issues, as well as the internal audit allegations brought against Solomon.

Allegations against Solomon included him using a company card to pay for personal helicopter flying lessons, oysters, jewellery and groceries.

However, Deloitte & Touche could not find any evidence to substantiate the allegations that the company had paid for private flying lessons, nor locate any transactions related to the purchase of jewellery for his wife.

Further, two oyster purchase were identified, one of which was paid by Solomon himself, and the other of R750 was incurred while he was hosting 20 dignitaries from the World Economic Forum. The report concluded that this was a business-related expense.

Lastly, the R985 Woolworths grocery purchase was approved by Wesizwe's chairperson to host members of a platinum company from an adjacent property.

Wesizwe has been suffering at the hands of an acrimonious shareholder polarisation since its yearly general meeting in November, when Solomon was sacked and then reinstated at an extraordinary general meeting in December.

It was during that period that the internal audit was carried out without affording Solomon the opportunity to refute the allegations emanating from it, and the final Deloitte report confirmed that the internal audit was flawed in a number of respects.

Wesizwe chairperson Dawn Mokhobo indicated to Mining Weekly Online that the cost of the Deloitte forensic audit report amounted to an inordinate amount of money in comparison to the amounts that Solomon was accused of spending on the company budget.

"However, we did not want to leave any rock unturned. Mr Solomon had incurred unwarranted criticism at great personal cost and distress," she added.

Solomon added that the cost of the Deloitte's report was not only a physical or direct cost, but also the cost of management's time and other resources that had to be spent on the issue, as well as a cost to shareholders.

Mokhobo said that heads has rolled in regard to those whose dealings were not loyal to the interest of the company, including that of the internal audit manager.

Nevertheless, Mokhobo said that the forensic report did highlight the need to address certain policies, procedures and record keeping within the company and noted that a process to improve these aspects of the business had been implemented.

The company has also undergone an extensive restructuring and reshuffling process.

Meanwhile, Solomon said that he would not be renewing his contract as CEO with Wesizwe and that CFO Arthur Mashiatshidi would take the reins in October.

He said that the company was in the transition phase of moving from an exploration company to a significant mining company. "I think that Mashiatshidi is the best man for the job and he has a strong board to progress the company forward in this direction."

Solomon will remain in his advisory capacity for the next six months and then possibly stay on as a nonexecutive board member.

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