The story: Companies that may have enabled state capture should not only pay back the fees they earned from suspect contracts plus interest, but should also have to pay "reparations" for the damage they caused to SA's economy, according to economist Dr Iraj Abedian, the founder and chief executive of Pan-African Investment and Research Services.
Too easy: Abedian, a former professor of economics at the University of Cape Town and ex-chief economist for the Standard Bank group, says that private sector groups that got entangled in the state capture project get off too easily when they volunteer to pay back fees.
How to rectify it: The economist suggests an independent panel of experts should assess primary documentation to work out not just what should be paid back from shady contracts and tenders - including interest of course, but also the question of whether broader "reparations" were needed.
