Four VBS officials’ assets to be seized
Former CEO and wife expected in court to hear outcome of leave to appeal against order
The noose is tightening around the erstwhile executives of the defunct VBS Mutual Bank, with the assets of four of its five former senior managers due to be seized to pay back some of the money stolen from the bank.
The noose is tightening around the erstwhile executives of the defunct VBS Mutual Bank, with the assets of four of its five former senior managers due to be seized to pay back some of the money stolen from the bank.
The application to sequestrate the executives was in response to large-scale fraud in which about R2bn was stolen from VBS Mutual Bank, which is now being liquidated.
The story of how the bank was plundered has become known as the “Great Bank
Heist”, with everybody from the bank’s executives and its auditors to municipal officials and politicians implicated.
Last week the high court in Johannesburg dismissed an application for leave to appeal by Robert Madzonga, the bank’s former COO, making him the fourth executive in final sequestration, according to a spokesperson for liquidator Anoosh Rooplal.
Philip Truter, the former CFO, Phophi Londolani Mukhodobwane, the bank’s former GM of treasury, and Tshifhiwa Matodzi, the former chair, were placed under final sequestration in 2018. The bank’s shareholder, Vele Investments, was liquidated in 2018.
The spokesperson said Andile Ramavhunga, the former CEO of the bank, and his wife Zanele are expected in court on Wednesday to hear the outcome of an application for leave to appeal against the final sequestration order obtained by the liquidator in August.
While the various court processes continue, Rooplal has called a second creditors’ meeting to take place at the high court in Polokwane on November 8 for municipalities and retail depositors who have not yet made valid claims. Rooplal said last week the meeting will provide an opportunity for all creditors to lodge their claims for proof in the insolvent estate.
A notice of the meeting was gazetted earlier in October.
More than 1,000 retail depositors have yet to have their claims approved, while the same is true for the majority of municipalities that illegally deposited money in the bank.
The master of the high court had called the first creditors meeting in March, after which only three municipalities out of 14 had their claims approved. They are West Rand in Gauteng, and Madibeng and Mahikeng in North West. A number of other municipalities have submitted claims that remain to be proved.
VBS collapsed in 2018, leaving the municipalities — who had deposited more than R1.5bn with it — in contravention of regulations, facing hefty losses.
While a successful claim does not mean a creditor will get their money back, it at least means the municipalities and other depositors are in the queue. Rooplal urged the remaining municipalities to seek their own legal advice and attend the November meeting.