Banks testify on refusal to meet ANC
Two of SA’s major banks rejected to meet senior ANC leadership and two of former president Zuma’s cabinet ministers to discuss the closure of Gupta-linked bank accounts.
Officials from FNB and Absa yesterday testified at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture that it was inappropriate to discuss client relations with any third party as it would put the banks at risk of sanctions from national and international financial regulatory authorities.
FNB’s Johan Burger and Absa’s Yasmin Masithela gave more evidence of cabinet and the ANC’s efforts to try and persuade them to reverse decisions to close Gupta accounts. The latest testimony puts the ruling party under further pressure to explain why its officials sought to interfere in legally protected bank-client relationships.
Standard Bank’s Ian Sinton on Monday admitted that he and bank CEO Sim Tshabalala met with the ANC NEC and cabinet’s inter-ministerial committee led by former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane following the bank’s closure of multiple Gupta accounts in 2016.
Burger yesterday said he had discussed the meeting request with senior ANC official Enoch Godongwana who later cancelled it after Burger sought clarity on who would be attending, and what exactly its purpose was. “Later he confirmed to me that there was no longer a requirement for me to meet the secretary-general of the ANC at Luthuli House.”
Burger said Godongwana told him the ANC was meeting with Standard Bank, Barclays Africa (now Absa) and Nedbank about the closure of the Gupta accounts.
“I was surprised by the call and the purpose of meeting. In my 32 years of banking experience, it’s the first time ever receiving a request from a political party to discuss a bankclient relationship. I didn’t expect any third party to question this relationship.”
Absa’s Masithela was adamant it would be completely inappropriate for the bank to discuss its relationship with a client. Worse yet, she said, would be the prospect that a bank would decide to reverse a decision made to close a client’s account, based on concerns about possible financial crimes, because of external pressure.
Masithela said the bank refused to meet with Zwane’s IMC because “we did not understand why the committee would be interested in private bank accounts”.
Backed up by the North Gauteng High Court’s ruling on former finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s opposition to being forced to intervene in the Gupta family’s business affairs, Masithela said it was clear the IMC did not have the legal authority to do what it was doing. “There is no legislation in this country, or international legislation, that allows the executive to interfere in private client relationships.”
While Zwane and labour minister Mildred Oliphant have both been notified they are implicated by the bank officials’ testimony, it’s understood the inquiry’s legal team is still considering whether to do so in respect of Gwede Mantashe, Jessie Duarte and Godongwana.