Ex-SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux loses legal battle with Stellenbosch University, must pay back R37m

SA Rugby's former chief executive officer, Jurie Roux, has lost his latest legal attempt to avoid paying back R37 million to the University of Stellenbosch.

Roux was deemed to have allocated university funds without council approval when he served on the university's finance committee between 2002 and 2010.

A KMPG report authorised by the university soon after Roux left the institution to join SA Rugby as their CEO revealed this.

It was confirmed on Tuesday, in a 59-page judgment from Western Cape High Court Judge Vincent Saldanha, that Roux will not only have to pay back the money he owes the university, but he also has to do so with interest.

Roux, who made his impassioned defence at the Western Cape High Court on 25 January through his legal team, will also have to pay the costs of the application.

READ | 'It is a helluva lot of money,' says judge in Jurie Roux case

The cost implication for Roux, who left SA Rugby's employ at the end of last year, also stretches to the 2021 Arbitration Appeal.

The ruling means Roux, who lost the initial arbitration and the subsequent appeal before taking up the matter with the High Court, has two legal options remaining to deal with the matter: The Supreme Court of Appeals and the Constitutional Court.

WATCH | Jurie Roux lawyers to fight ruling he must pay back Stellenbosch University R37m

In 2020, an arbitration hearing ruled Roux should pay back the money, which was held up on appeal in 2021.

His team argued that there were "gross irregularities" in the arbitration process and that it should be set aside.