ONE of the country’s leading financial companies, Access Finance Group and its chief executive — Raymond Chigogwana — were victims of a coordinated media plot to destroy their standing.
So says respected South African media outlet, Independent Online (IOL), which had named Chigogwana and Access Finance Group and its subsidiary Access Finance, in a story alleging they were being probed by South African authorities.
This came out in its apology to Chigogwana and Access Finance Group after it discovered that elements of its story relating to them were false.
In its story published in May, IOL implicated Chigogwana and his companies in a probe by the South African Financial Intelligence Centre (SAFIC) — which traced the movement of R800 million from accounts held by Wicknell Chivayo.
“The story was supplied to us by a trusted source and while IOL did our own investigations and verifications of the facts in the story, which satisfied our curiosities, our naming of you personally in our story was fundamentally flawed and baseless.
“It has become clear to me that there seems to be an apparent coordinated media campaign to tarnish your name, and there may well be actors aiming to use IOL as a platform to further this campaign.
“For this reason, IOL retracted the story and issued a personal apology to you,” said IOL editor, Lance Witten said.
“There was no malicious intent on IOL’s behalf to tarnish your name, and I apologise unreservedly on behalf of IOL for any harm that may have come to you or your business interests as a result of the publication of the initial story.
“IOL will take greater care to further verify information in future, and any fur ther submissions to our platform for publication will be scrutinised far more closely, and in any such submission that mentions you personally, I commit to reaching out directly to you or an appointed, trusted representative for background information and potential confirmation or denial.
“Again, please accept my apologies for any harm to yourself or your business interests as a result of the publication of the story,” Witten said further.
IOL has since removed the article from its website — with Witten reiterating that they had found the information relating to Chigogwana and Access Finance Group to be false. “IOL stands by its investigation, how ever, additional information has since come to light that has necessitated the removal of the story in its original form.
“Certain aspects of the story, particularly surrounding Raymond Chigogwana’s alleged involvement in the matter, were found, under further investigation, to be false. “IOL apologises unreservedly to Mr Chigogwana for any harm caused,” IOL said in the retraction, before pulling down the article from its website.