Former Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO Dan Matjila revealed yesterday he was subjected to immense pressure to finance the business ventures of senior politicians and other influential people during his time at the helm of the state-owned asset manager, notes a Business Day report. ‘Throughout my time spent as CIO (chief investment officer), I experienced a great deal of pressure from senior politicians of most parties, very influential people in various fields and business people who, for no other reason than entitlement, felt that their business ventures and those of their associates deserve to be financed by the PIC,’ he said during his second day of testimony before the PIC Commission of Inquiry. ‘Over the 15 years as CIO and CEO, I found this aspect of my work to be extremely stressful, as I was not there to respond to relentless funding requests by political and business elite.’ Matjila did not mention specific names, notes the report. It says his statement about political and business interference led to a testy exchange with one of the inquiry’s commissioners, former Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus, who questioned him about what protocols he had put in place to protect the integrity of the institution. These could have taken the form of declining to meet politically exposed persons without being accompanied by a colleague or minuting meetings. ‘I have been able to protect the organisation. The biggest protection for me has been the process. If a Minister comes to us with a transaction, we tell them ‘this is the process’,’ Matjila responded. The report points out the inquiry previously heard how the PIC had no policy on transactions involving politically exposed people. However, Matjila claimed a ‘deal screening’ committee has been created.