“Contrary to Evidence”: SA Director Fined R500k for Lying About Having a PhD

• The Financial Services Tribunal has dismissed former EOH director Anushka Bogdanov's application to have her sanctions reconsidered
• This was after she was fined R500,000 and banned from serving as a director of any JSE-listed company for ten years
• Bogdanov had claimed the forged PhD certificate was either an honest mistake or someone maliciously deleting her records
• Bogdanov's legal team reached out to Briefly News to make sure her side of the story was heard

A former company director who lied about holding a PhD from the London Business School has lost her bid to have her R500,000 fine overturned.

According to a report on 2 June 2026, the Financial Services Tribunal dismissed Anushka Bogdanov's application to have the JSE sanctions against her reconsidered, upholding the fine and her ten-year ban from serving as a director or officer of any JSE-listed company.

Bogdanov was appointed as an independent non-executive director of EOH, now known as IOCO, in 2019. Her CV stated she obtained a PhD in International Finance from the London Business School in 2007 and 2008.

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The problem surfaced in 2020 when EOH investigated her credentials and found clear signs of forgery on her certificate. The LBS logo was wrong, there were obvious spelling errors, the university had no vice chancellor position and LBS had never offered a doctorate in International Financial Services.

How Anushka Bogdanov's lie unravelled

Bogdanov resigned from all her EOH positions in July 2020 after the investigation confirmed her PhD certificate was a forgery.

The JSE launched its own investigation and spent years trying to get answers. It was only in October 2024, when she was confronted with evidence she could no longer dispute, that she finally admitted through her legal representative that the PhD had never been awarded to her.

She was publicly censured, fined R500,000 and disqualified from JSE-listed board positions for a decade. She then challenged the sanctions at the Financial Services Tribunal, arguing she genuinely believed she had earned the degree, that her secretary had made an honest mistake, and that two LBS employees had maliciously deleted her records after an incident involving her husband.

What the Tribunal said about Anushka Bogdanov?

The Tribunal was not persuaded. It found that if Bogdanov had genuinely completed a PhD, she would have had years of her own records, including her application, her thesis, supervisor correspondence and examination results.

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It said there was no logical excuse for failing to follow up on any of this. It also pointed out that she had been well enough to run a business, serve on multiple committees and even study for another doctorate, but claimed she was too ill to respond to JSE queries for three years.

The Tribunal concluded that the forgery was either committed by Bogdanov herself or with her full knowledge and consent.

Bogdanov hits back at the ruling

Bogdanov's team reached out to Briefly News to make sure her side of the story was included. She said the Tribunal's decision contained inaccuracies about her personal and professional details, including her marital status, her academic title and her role as a board member of a JSE-owned subsidiary. She added that the decision did not properly address everything she put forward in her application and confirmed she will be challenging it.

She also spoke about her personal history, saying she grew up during apartheid and survived a car blast that killed her grandmother and left her and her brother badly injured. She said they were turned away from a whites-only hospital because of the colour of their skin. Those experiences, she said, shaped her values and her commitment to transparency and accountability throughout her career.

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She ended her statement saying:

"I remain committed to conducting all affairs professionally, transparently, and in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. I will provide further updates when there are any material developments."

The case is ongoing.

More people getting fined

• Briefly News recently reported on Bellarmine Mugabe being escorted to OR Tambo International Airport after receiving a fine.
• Real Madrid handed two of their biggest stars a combined fine worth millions after a dressing room incident that shocked football fans worldwide.
• A luxury car owner was stopped by traffic officers, hit with a serious fine, and his reaction to the whole thing had South Africa split right down the middle.

Source: Briefly News