Harmony chief quizzed over 74 offshore accounts

The national prosecuting authority in South Africa has opened an investigation into dozens of foreign bank accounts which bear the name of Bernard Swanepoel, the chief executive of Harmony Gold.

The move by the directorate of special operations, also known as the Scorpions, comes at a critical time for the gold mining firm, whose $6.2bn (£3.3bn) hostile bid for larger rival Gold Fields closes in three days.

The Scorpions are now looking at more than 70 accounts held in locations including Bermuda, the Isle of Man and Switzerland under the name of "Zacharias Bernardus Swanepoel" - the full name of the Harmony boss.

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Many of the accounts, with banks including Barclays and HSBC, show regular flows of cash moving between them, which have aroused the interest of dozens of regulatory authorities, including ones in Russia. The money transfers all involve relatively small figures of around $5,000.

Holding multiple accounts is illegal under South African financial regulations but Mr Swanepoel has told the Guardian that he only has one such holding outside of his country.

Last night his public relations team said the Harmony chief executive was glad to hear the FBI-style investigative agency was looking into the issue.

"He wrote a letter to the Reserve Bank requesting this [investigation] because he has never heard of them [the accounts] ... it must be some other person," said a spokeswoman.

The Guardian first revealed in February that it had uncovered a series of bank accounts with Mr Swanepoel's name on them as well as a smaller number bearing the name of Harmony's marketing director, Ferdinand Dippenaar.

The Scorpions now believe they have found 74, with a possible 16 others being reviewed. They believe the total sums of money involved could be £22m or upwards, well-placed sources have revealed.

Makhosini Nkosi, formal spokesman of the directorate of special operations, said he could not comment. "We do not talk about our investigations until they are completed," he said.

An "irrevocable undertaking" by the Russian miner Norilsk Nickel to back Harmony's assault on Gold Fields also expires on Friday. Norilsk owns 20% of Gold Fields.

Harmony last month reported worse than expected financial losses and Mr Swanepoel was in London yesterday trying to drum up support for the Gold Fields takeover.

The task of enlisting support has been made harder because third-quarter figures were hit by a strike, restructuring and the impact of a strong local currency.

Losses could continue until 2007, according to analysts at Citigroup Smith Barney, which has also raised questions about Harmony's gold reserve figures.

Gold Fields, which is the fourth-biggest gold producer, urged its shareholders yesterday to continue to reject the hostile takeover offer from Harmony, the sixth-biggest producer.

Gold Fields said in a formal statement that the share-swap bid launched by Harmony last October did not represent fair value.

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