US$130-million graft caused S. Africa bank collapse

JOHANNESBURG: A bank in South Africa collapsed after scores of people and companies looted 1.9 billion rand (US$130 million) over three years, an investigation revealed Wednesday, in one of the country’s latest corruption scandals.

VBS Mutual, which collapsed in March, granted then president Jacob Zuma a 7.8 million rand loan for him to repay taxpayers for security upgrades to his private Nkandla homestead in 2016.

The investigation, commissioned by the central bank, released its damning report titled ‘The Great Bank Heist’.

It detailed the graft that sank VBS and named the executives allegedly responsible, including former CEO Andile Ramavhunga, who denies any wrongdoing.

“Many of those implicated in the looting of VBS are chartered accountants and some attorneys. They are not fit and proper persons to fill those offices, which require utmost honesty and integrity,” report author Terry Motau wrote.

The investigation was launched after VBS, a corporate finance and retail bank, suffered a severe liquidity crisis and was put under curatorship earlier this year. The probe revealed malpractice including extending overdrafts to well-connected clients and issuing payments to individuals in exchange for deposits from state-owned companies. — AFP

This handout photo taken and released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), shows IMF managing director Christine Lagarde (left) greeting Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar (right) at the Bali Convention Centre during the 2018 IMF/World Bank annual meetings in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. — AFP photo