Juju jumps to Floyd’s defence
ACTION: EFF WILL MOVE IF EVIDENCE PROVES HIS GUILT
Economist says it is possible to conceal transaction, but good forensic team would detect it.
Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu is not off the hook yet as the party vowed to take action against him should prima facie evidence later emerge that he fraudulently received R10 million from his younger brother as part of the VBS Mutual Bank scandal.
EFF president Julius Malema said although money changed hands between Shivambu senior and his brother, Brian, Floyd did not get R10 million from him and the party had proved that.
According to Malema, Shivambu took the party leadership into his confidence and provided them with his financial statements.
These showed all the transactions that Shivambu made with Brian and other members of his family since 2014, with none apparently showing that he received an amount of R10 million.
Brian is among 53 people accused of having benefitted from R2 billion stolen from the Venda-based VBS bank and it was alleged that he gave R10 million of the R16 million received from Vele Investments, a majority shareholder at VBS, to Floyd.
Malema said the total of all the transactions between the brothers and other siblings did “not amount anywhere near R10 million”.
“That does not make R10 million even when his salary is added to those transactions,” Malema said.
“Floyd took the EFF leadership into his confidence and we have no reason to doubt him.”
However, Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt said while he did not know whether Floyd did in fact receive any money from his brother, it was possible to conceal a transaction, especially when it was paid in smaller amounts into the receiver’s account, or given in cash.
“It is not impossible to hide money.
“Once it is put into an account, it loses its identity and gets mixed up with other monies. But if you have a good forensic team, it becomes very difficult to hide it,” Roodt said.
Floyd Shivambu vehemently denied that either he or the EFF pocketed any money from VBS.
“It’s pure insanity, it’s madness,” he said.
“Go to the police station and report it. If it had happened, my bank would have called me to explain.
“I have never been called by my bank to explain, I dismiss the report that I received R10 million.”
Asked about Brian’s role in the EFF, Malema confirmed that he had worked for the EFF in the past, selling party apparel.
“He opened a merchandise office and a stall at Noord [Street].
“He designed the merchandise of the EFF Students Command, and continued to visit the EFF office.
“But he has left now,” Malema said.
He said Brian was not an executive member of any political organisation.
“You leave all public representatives and you go for one young man who holds no political office because you want to tarnish the image of the deputy president of the EFF.
“We see it for what it is. You want to discredit the EFF,” Malema said.
Shivambu said the only EFF interest in VBS Bank was for those who invested in the bank to be protected. – ericn@citizen.co.za