Roy Cokayne A view of the interior of the half-built Villa Retail Park in Pretoria. Image: Moneyweb The independence of an expert witness has been brought into question at an Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (Irba) disciplinary hearing against the former auditors of the failed Sharemax property syndication scheme. This follows Brian Smith, who has 45 years’ experience in the accounting field and is Irba’s expert witness in the case, confirming last week that he was a member of Irba’s investigation committee from 2004 until 2016 and chair of this committee from 2011 until 2016. Smith further admitted that during the time he chaired this committee, it concluded the investigations into the conduct of the three audit...