On Monday, HuffPost South Africa received an email detailing the findings from an independent review conducted by international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) LLP, into the work done by Bell Pottinger on its Oakbay account in South Africa (which you can read in full here, and judge for yourself).
Along with the documents, Bell Pottinger offered an interview responding to the findings, so that we might get a comment surrounding the controversial discoveries. But, when HuffPost sent through our four questions, the answer was a resounding "no comment".
Our questions were simple:
1. How much did Bell Pottinger earn from the Oakbay account?
2. Would Bell Pottinger now consider paying profits from the account toward some charitable organisations, maybe like those working toward reconciliation efforts in South Africa?
3. Are (ex-CEO) James Henderson and (former BP partner) Victoria Geoghegan going to be the only employees held responsible?
4. Would there be another apology issued to South Africans affected by the divisive campaigns?
This is the official Bell Pottinger response:
Today we have published the findings of the report, as we said we would. These have not been edited in anyway. [But] We are not going to make any additional statements at this time. I hope that covers questions 2, 3 & 4 as best as I can. Finally, in response to your first question, we do not discuss the commercials surrounding our clients as that is confidential.