The South African National Editors' Forum has appointed an independent auditor to investigate the alleged R100,000 donation reportedly made by Bosasa to the SABC 8.
The money was reportedly paid to a crowd-funding campaign for the legal fees of the journalist who were suspended by the public broadcaster.
TimesLIVE said it had seen a leaked e-mail in which former Bosasa chief operations officer, Angelo Agrizzi, instructed other officials to make the R100,000 donation, saying it would be the best return on investment.
Agrizzi is currently testifying against the company at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State capture. He said Bosasa had paid bribes to some journalists to not write certain stories.
Even though Sanef on Wednesday denied any donation from Bosasa to the SABC8 and it could not find any evidence to support this in its our own investigation, it has now said it felt it necessary to set out the facts and its position in greater detail.
"As such we have now called upon an Independent auditing firm (name to be released in due course) to conduct a full introspection of the account for purpose of transparency. We will publish the findings in full when completed," it said in a statement.
Sanef said it had never solicited funds from Bosasa.
- African News Agency (ANA)
