Deputy finance minister and chair of the state-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) David Masondo has asked the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to weigh in on the PIC’s Acapulco debacle in the latest escalation of the multimillion-rand dispute.Masondo’s intervention, announced on Saturday, follows a fresh legal probe by consulting firm PwC into the scandal, which has already prompted the PIC to change the way it lends money and sparked conflict between the two biggest members of South Africa’s coalition government. The move adds fresh scrutiny to a years-long dispute involving a PIC-funded empowerment transaction and a subsequent settlement that resulted in the asset manager paying more than R400m.In 2013, BEE partner Acapulco received a R333m loan from the PIC — Africa’s largest asset manager with R3.6-trillion of government pension and social insurance funds under management — to buy a 25% stake in Gauteng’s Lanseria Airport.A decade later, when the loan had grown to about R630m, including interest, Acapulco defaulted, forcing the PIC to take over Acapulco’s share in the airport.Business Day reported that arbitration was necessary to value the Acapulco shares that the PIC took over to perfect its security of the loan and that, if the value of the shares exceeded the loan amount, the PIC had to pay the difference to Acapulco.Crowe JHB reportedly valued the stake at about R1.041bn, meaning Acapulco was owed about R411m after subtracting its R630m debt. The PIC called this valuation “completely unacceptable” but was forced to pay Acapulco more than R400m anyway.Since then, left with a 62% stake in Lanseria, the PIC has been pursuing a series of legal challenges while working to reduce its exposure to the airport. So far, though, legal opinions have advised that the PIC’s prospects of success would be limited and would potentially bring high litigation risks associated with challenging the underlying settlement.However, a draft PwC forensic report appears now to have vindicated the PIC’s adamance in continuing to pursue the matter.Masondo said on Saturday that the report raises questions about the calculation used to settle the long-running dispute and identifies what PwC describes as multiple calculation and application issues regarding the more than R400m settlement.Given new information contained in the report, which apparently warrants legal reconsideration, Masondo said the PIC would now escalate the matter to the SIU, an independent public integrity and anti-corruption authority.“While previous legal opinions pointed to limited prospects of success and potential litigation risks, the PwC investigation produced new findings that warranted further legal consideration. Based on that advice, the chairperson believes that referral to the SIU is the most appropriate course of action,” he said in a statement.Separately, a whistleblower report earlier this month accused PIC CEO Patrick Dlamini of overstepping his mandate and breaching governance limits by commissioning PwC without proper board approval. Dlamini denies all allegations of wrongdoing.In his statement, Masondo said the PIC would continue to investigate the whistleblower report independently of the referral of the Acapulco matter to the SIU “so as to allow the PIC to address the entirety of multiple matters contained in the whistleblower report”.“Should the whistleblower inquiry uncover information that falls within the mandate of any law enforcement, regulatory or other competent authority, the PIC will refer such matters accordingly,” he said.