Another Fake PhD Scandal Rocks SA Boardrooms: R500k Fine and 10-Year Ban for Bogdanov

SA Boardrooms Under Scrutiny Again as Another Director Gets Busted for a Fake PhD

Anushka Bogdanov has become the latest high-profile figure in South African business to be publicly fined and banned after it emerged she lied about having a PhD.

It’s another blow to boardroom integrity in the country. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) announced this week that Bogdanov will be fined R500,000 and barred from serving as a director or officer of any JSE-listed company for the next 10 years. The reason? She falsely claimed to hold a PhD in International Finance from the London Business School, a qualification she never earned.

A Lie That Unravelled Slowly

Bogdanov was appointed as an independent non-executive director of EOH in 2019, back when the tech giant was still battling corruption clouds from previous years. She didn’t just serve quietly on the board; she was involved in some of the company’s most sensitive committees, including Governance and Risk, Social and Ethics, and later as the lead independent director in 2020.

Her résumé seemed bulletproof. On paper, a PhD from a prestigious institution like London Business School added serious gravitas. But suspicions later arose, and EOH (which now operates under the name IOCO) discovered her academic credentials didn’t check out.

After years of back-and-forth with the JSE, Bogdanov eventually admitted that she never earned the doctorate she had claimed. That admission sealed her fate.

Public Censure, Financial Penalty, and a Career-Ending Ban

The JSE didn’t mince words in its findings, stating that Bogdanov’s dishonesty raised “serious and material concerns about her integrity.” She was found to have shown a “grave violation of professional integrity” and “an unacceptable disregard for ethical standards.”

In addition to the half-million rand fine, her 10-year disqualification from JSE-listed companies sends a clear message: the era of embellished CVs and unchecked credentials in corporate South Africa is running out of road.

Déjà Vu: The Leoka Case Still Lingers

The Bogdanov case closely mirrors another still-fresh scandal involving economist Thabi Leoka, who resigned from board roles at MTN, Remgro, and Anglo American earlier this year. Leoka also claimed to hold a PhD from the London School of Economics. When challenged, she produced a document she said was her degree, but the institution publicly stated she had never been awarded such a qualification.

Her repeated failure to supply verified proof led the JSE to rule that she too had misrepresented her qualifications, prompting a similar public censure and a R500,000 fine.

Corporate South Africa’s Crisis of Credibility

For many South Africans, this latest scandal adds to growing frustration over the ethics of those in power. Social media has lit up with calls for stricter vetting processes and public accountability for board members who oversee billions in assets and influence entire sectors.

While it’s easy to scoff at fake degrees, the implications run deep. Board directors shape company strategy, guide risk, and are supposed to embody trust. If their credentials are based on fiction, how solid are the foundations of the companies they lead?

What Happens Now?

The JSE’s recent string of sanctions appears to be part of a broader clean-up, one that’s long overdue in a country still recovering from years of corporate scandals. From Steinhoff to state capture, South Africans have learned that what happens in the boardroom rarely stays there.

For directors hoping to bluff their way into power, the warning is clear: those days are done. For investors, employees, and the public at large, there’s hope that a higher standard is being restored, one painful fine at a time.

Also read: A Slap on the Wrist? South Africans Outraged by Light Sentence in R66 Million Fraud Case

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Source: Business Tech

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