A REPORT on a new probe of Corpcapital by four independent investigators, which has been handed to Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa, raises concern about bias by state-appointed investigators towards directors and highlights irregularities not questioned in the state probe.

Former director Nic Frangos initiated the year-long probe after the state's investigation cleared investment company Corpcapital of wrongdoing, a finding also questioned by the minister. A summary of the six reports was compiled by Webber Wentzel Bowens and submitted to Mpahlwa.

Mpahlwa, who is deciding whether to appeal against a court decision forcing him to hand the state report to Corpcapital, has yet to respond.

Corpcapital shut up shop in 2OO3 after being drawn into a public governance wrangle with Frangos,who resigned as directorin December 2OO2.

The new report says executives repeatedly put their interests before those of shareholders; state investigators did not investigate directors' share-holdings properly,which would have shown the extent of conflicts of interes and investigators were sidetracked by an attack on Frangos's character and motives without giving Frangos a chance to rebut.

The document says evidence example furnished provided grounds" for Mpahlwa to take further action and recommend steps against Corpcapital or its directors and representatives.

Charles Stride, a former senior partner of Fisher Hoffman Stride who contributed to the report, says state investigators former judge John Myburgh and Prof Keith Prinsloo "failed in their duty to determine that a fraudulent scheme had in fact been perpetrated" and "failed to consider the profit performance or share price trends" to determine"whether or not the executives may have had a motive to fraudulently inflate earnings".

Stride says investors were defrauded, and earnings were inflated to avoid disclosure of a substantial loss in Corpcapital. Collett & Collett/SAB&T questioned the accounting approach by which directors revalued off shore entity Cytech. The effect was to "artificially overstate the value of Corpcapital by atleast R221m".

The merger of Corpgro, Corpcapital and Corpcapital Bank. benefited executives whose shareholding were overvalued. The big losers were minority shareholders of Corpcapital Bank,who lost R32Om, and the investing public, "who were acting on incorrect information'. Other investigators were SAB&T [Ibuntu and Brian Anderson, former senior partner of Anderson Consulting.