Jurie Roux and Stellenbosch University will go head to head in May this year over claims that the chief executive of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) possibly benefitted personally from seemingly misappropriated university funds.

The university is claiming damages of more than R30m from Roux, who served as a senior director in the university’s finance department before he was appointed as SARU’s CEO in 2013.

He also served on the management of the university’s rugby club for a decade. The details of the claim are contained in court papers filed in the Western Cape High Court in 2015.

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Roux has denied that he acted inappropriately.

Frikkie Erasmus, Roux’s attorney, confirmed to News24 on Thursday that the High Court had set Monday, May 13, as a trial date.

He said the two parties had been in contact and that they would iron out pre-trial issues in February.

‘Misrepresented university funds’

According to a report by audit firm KPMG, attached to a notice by the university lodged at the court in October 2017, Roux “misrepresented the university’s funds (including by, without evidence of authorisation, reallocating reserves of the university for expenditure), entered into unauthorised agreements on behalf of the university, did not act in the best interests of the university, and potentially benefitted personally from university funds”.

The report – which was attached to the filing, giving notice that the university would be calling Roy Walligora, a KPMG director, as expert witness – states Roux could have benefitted from university funds through the payments of irregular bonuses.

The report says that payments and bonuses were approved to a club rugby coach who was then asked by Roux to deposit an amount of R55 250 into his account.

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Roux also allegedly used a software mechanism that did not leave an audit trail “and concealed the movement of funds” between accounts to which he had access.

These movements “decreased the (university) council’s reserves by R35.3m from 2002 to 2010”, the report says.

KPMG also made adverse findings against a friend and colleague of Roux, Chris de Beer, who also worked in the university’s finance department and the rugby club.

He was found to have channelled funds from Roux to irregularly funded bursaries and unused or old student fee accounts. De Beer has been dismissed by the university.