The government, underwriting 56% of Sanral's debt of 38 billion rand, has been left with a big financial mess.

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Indicted in federal court in May, the chief financial officer of Aspen, William Anthony "Tony" Rand, and his three sons face charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and forfeiture.

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Still, Johannesburg, which started life as a gold-rush town, is very much a go-go business city and the headquarters for most of South Africa's international companies. (This can be double-edged: Anglo Platinum recently poached its new chief executive, Ralph Havenstein, from Sasol.) It boasts the 21st-largest stock market in the world, and its financial officials have managed a respectable rebound from the 2002 rout of the rand.

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