SA RESERVE BANK DENIES CLAIMS OF BILLIONS STOLEN FROM FUND FOR THE POOR

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ANC veteran Tokyo Sexwale on alleged billions deposited at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) pointed to a common scam and there were no such funds, the SA Reserve Bank said in a statement yesterday. Sexwale had said in an eNCA Power to Truth programme that money from the Heritage Fund – meant for the poor – had been stolen. He had said President Cyril Ramaphosa and his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, were aware of this fund. “This fund is here in South Africa already, it comes through the SA Reserve Bank. I'm part of two people who are mandate holders,” he was quoted as saying on the eNCA website. SARB said that over the years, it and National Treasury had received many such requests for, or promises, of billions (and now trillions) of rands or dollars, and from experience regarded these as “simply scams.” The SARB and National Treasury had previously received correspondence from Sexwale and others who had alleged that billions of rands had been stolen from a fund that had been referred to as the “White Spiritual Boy Trust” and which was allegedly set up by a foreign donor. It was further alleged that there were trillions of dollars in the said fund and that a certain Goodwin Erin Webb was its mandated representative in South Africa. “On investigation, the SARB can confirm that it has no record of the existence of the said fund and it has advised Sexwale in writing that, given the SARB’s experience and knowledge of this and other similar matters, it could only conclude that the alleged fund was a scam.” All crossborder transactions were reported to it by commercial banks. |