Judge scolds Standard Bank in its wrangle with Sekunjalo
The Western Cape High Court has criticised the “unacceptable” conduct of Standard Bank in appealing against its earlier decision that it must keep the accounts of Iqbal Survé investment vehicle Sekunjalo opened.
The lender approached the court for leave to appeal against the interdict it granted in September, stopping the bank from closing the bank accounts until the finalisation of an equality court case in which Sekunjalo is challenging alleged unfair discrimination by banks in SA.
Judge Judith Cloete on Monday expressed her displeasure at how Standard Bank conducted its leave to appeal.
“First, Standard Bank could have insisted on a much earlier date for this application to be heard. Instead it waited for five months into a 12-month period,” Cloete said. “Second, it was only when I pointed out to its counsel during argument in reply that I could not dictate to the SCA [Supreme Court of Appeal] when it should entertain the appeal if leave were to be granted that — suddenly — an undertaking was forthcoming from Standard Bank, despite its dire predictions on irreparable harm, not to close SG’s [Sekunjalo’s] accounts pending any SCA judgment. This is unacceptable, and in any event counsel for SG were deprived of any prior notice of this undertaking and thus the opportunity to prepare and deal properly with it.”
The Sekunjalo group is fighting on many fronts to have its accounts opened, not just by Standard Bank but by a dozen SA banks, which have flagged it as posing a reputational risk.
The dismissal of Standard Bank’s leave to appeal comes just days after the equality court ordered that the Financial Intelligence Centre hand over reports it has on “suspicious and unusual transactions” by Steinhoff, EOH, KPMG and Tongaat Hulett, Sekunjalo and other parties claim banks discriminate on race when determining which business accounts they close over reputational risk concerns.
The equality court found that the applicants in that matter had made out a case for being in need of the reports, as this would help them determine whether they were unfairly discriminated against, as they allege.
The SCA in December set aside an interdict granted against Nedbank by the equality court in 2022 that it could not close accounts held by companies in the Sekunjalo stable. The judges said there was no evidence before them that Nedbank had behaved in a racist manner.
Survé, who chairs Sekunjalo, welcomed the dismissal of Standard Bank’s leave to appeal.
“The past few years have been a rollercoaster of legal rulings. However, we are all delighted and relieved that we can now continue to go about our business without the immediate spectre of having accounts closed,” he said in a statement.
“Our main case at the equality court is drawing nearer where we will be able to argue and convincingly demonstrate the abject discrimination we have been subjected to by these banks, not just Standard Bank.”